The wood structure located on a parking lot adjacent to Jubilee Park was removed by city staff today (Monday) just after 2 p.m., in accordance with a B.C. Supreme Court judge's ruling on Friday.
The structure, which was erected Dec. 10 by volunteers using donated plywood, was put in place to offer shelter to some of the homeless people who had been camping in Jubilee Park since Oct. 22.
The occupants left the structure a few days later and returned to Jubilee Park.
On Friday, Justice James Williams granted an injunction to the City of Abbotsford for the shelter to be dismantled – either by the volunteers who had set it up or, if that wasn't done by 2 p.m. today, by city staff.
Williams emphasized that this must be done without damaging the plywood.
At 2:02 p.m., about eight city workers took down the structure and loaded the plywood onto several trucks. The wood will now be placed in storage at the public works yard until the owners are able to claim it.
Meanwhile, a crew from a hazmat company spent the day cleaning up garbage and personal items left behind by the dozen or so occupants who vacated Jubilee Park on Saturday, after a judge granted an injunction to the City of Abbotsford.
Three containers were placed on site to load salvageable property, while garbage was placed in a dumpster. The items taken from the site have been placed in secure storage until Jan. 20. Anyone wanting to make a claim for materials left at the park is asked to contact the City of Abbotsford at 604-504-4217 and state they are requesting access to the parks department storage container at Jubilee Park.
Clean-up of the park is expected to be complete by the end of tomorrow (Tuesday), but further work is required on the grounds before the park can be re-opened to the public.
(Photo below: City staff removed a wooden structure in a parking lot next to Jubilee Park and are moving the plywood, shown here loaded onto one of several trucks, into storage.)
