Where once her neighbours lived in mobile homes, there is now only mud and debris and a few old trailers with For Sale signs in their rain-speckled windows.

A tiny tree strung with a dozen lights twinkles across the empty trailer pads and curving streets that once made up the Garden Village retirement park. It's unclear if the tree will last long enough to see Christmas.

Ross is one of four seniors remaining at Garden Village, which was once home to 101 people but is now a few weeks away from closure.

The 84-year-old woman says she plans to "stay until they force me out," but admits her daughter has been looking for an apartment for her. Garden Village officially closes January 15.

"I don't want to be bullied into moving," she says.

It's the second time Ross has been forced to move from a mobile home village.

Fraser Valley trailer parks have been under siege in recent years as parks that were once on the city outskirts have been absorbed into urban areas and targeted for redevelopment.

Garden Village is closing because its water system is 50 years old and replacing the pipes costs too much, says park manager Paul Hague, who is related to the property's owner, prominent Abbotsford developer Karen Matty.

Hague admits the land could someday be redeveloped but emphasizes no permit applications have been made to city hall.

Under provincial law, park owners must give tenants 12 months written notice plus 12 months free rent before evicting them.

Garden Village has been taking a less confrontational approach. Hague says he went door-to-door 18 months ago to tell residents the park was closing. Since then he's been working with them individually to find new homes. Many received two years free rent, plus $4,000 in moving expenses.

Lynn Cramp has lived at Garden Village just shy of 20 years and planned to stay until she died.

"This was my last stop," she says, taking a break from packing. She hopes to transport her home to Barriere before Christmas and calls herself "lucky" to be able to do so.

"Many of my neighbours went straight into nursing homes," she says.

Cramp is upset that some of the recent improvements to her home will be destroyed by the move. She's filled a trailer with perennials and rose bushes to take with her. The shrubs she can't take are rotting in a soggy pile beside the remains of her neighbour's garden.

Manufactured Home Park Owners Alliance executive director Al Kemp says he believes Matty's company has treated residents fairly.

"I've never heard of a park that's gone this far [to make the situation fair]," he says. "They haven't given out legal notices, which speaks very highly of the way they've managed this. People are leaving voluntarily because they made it economically practical for them to find a new place to live."

Kemp says there are about 800 parks in B.C. One of the most common reasons for closure is redevelopment.

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