Luke Navrot isn’t looking for sympathy; he isn’t even looking for help.
All the 38-year-old mature student wants is to not be feared by his temporary, adopted community.
On and off over the last year, Navrot – who’s from Kimberley in the Kootenays – has called various parking lots along the south arm dyke in Steveston his home, while he studies political science at Langara College in Vancouver.
Mature student Luke Navrot wants his Steveston “neighbours” to know that he’s no threat to their neighbourhood, after receiving three complaints about his overnight parking. Alan Campbell photo
Initially in the back of a camper van and now a truck camper, the former building contractor has been “roughing it” as he can’t afford accommodation in the region’s extortionate rental market.
Now in the third and final year of three-year diploma, Navrot has been happy enough to make the best of his situation, cycling to the Canada Line in Richmond, before taking the train to college.
Only in the last few weeks, however, has he started to fall foul of the city’s complaint-driven parking bylaws, which prohibits anyone parking in the same place for more than 72 hours.
Navrot has attracted three such complaints in recent weeks and, subsequently, received two warning notices from the city’s bylaw department, forcing him to move each time or risk paying a $75 maximum fine he can ill afford.
“I’m not sure how many strikes I get? But I’m running out of places to go,” said Navrot, who said so-called “affordable housing” isn’t an option on his income.
“I would just like people to give me the benefit of the doubt I guess. I would say to the folks living in this area, you never know who people are when you see them in this position; some people are down on their luck, some don’t have a choice.
“Maybe go up and say ‘hi,’ see what they’re up to. I’m hoping that, if people see this story, they may be less inclined to complain. I’m no threat, that’s for sure.
Mature student Luke Navrot wants his Steveston “neighbours” to know that he’s no threat to their neighbourhood, after receiving three complaints about his overnight parking. Alan Campbell photo
“Come down and have a cup of tea with me.”
Navrot told the Richmond News how he and his wife, in 2016, rented their 1940s, renovated 1,100-square foot former mining house in Kimberley, before moving to Vancouver so he could study at Langara.
Being almost 40, he was looking to “get into something else (meaningful) before it’s too late.
“Something international. I like to help people, mediating between companies and countries, who knows.”
Navrot and his wife initially rented an apartment in Vancouver for $1,800 a month, plus utilities.
“My wife was working, I was at school full-time, we kept (the apartment) for a year.
“Eventually, it all wore a bit thin and we had to move out within a year. I went to work for the summer and came back here last fall, stayed with a cousin in Steveston, but it was getting too crowded.
“And then I bought a camper van and we moved into that last fall, staying on Dyke Road, near the Britannia Shipyards.
“We stayed there for about four months and then the semester ended and we went back to Kimberley because our tenants moved out.”
Given the situation, Navrot said he tried to transfer course credits nearer to home, but “they wouldn’t give me credit for more than 70 per cent and I didn’t want to give all that up so...”
That led him back to Steveston’s riverfront parking lots with a pick-up truck and truck camper.
After receiving the first warning, Navrot contacted the city’s bylaw department to complain that there were no signs about the 72-hour parking rule.
He was informed that the bylaw was city-wide and was given two websites to look at for affordable housing.
City spokesperson Ted Townsend told the News that it enforces the 72-hour bylaw only when it receives a complaint.
The fine, added Townsend, is $35 if paid within 1 to 28 days of receiving the notice, rising to $75 if paid after 61 days or more.
As the bylaw applies universally across the city, it’s not practical to have signs to that effect everywhere.
“We recognize the difficulty Mr. Navrot is facing and bylaws staff did provide him with information on housing resources he may be able to access,” said Townsend.
“The issue of people living in RVs or other vehicles on city streets has become a growing issue around the region.
“We’re sympathetic to those who find themselves in such situations, which is why the city has made significant investments in projects to provide housing alternatives for those who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
“Both our new expanded emergency shelter and the Temporary Modular Housing project will be opening within the next few months.
“However, we must also respond to community concerns about the impacts of such incidents within our neighbourhoods. If not managed, such activity can have significant negative impacts on the community.”
