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Cabin owners start saying good-bye

They were told last week to get their stuff and leave. Some cabin owners at Waldsea Lake have taken that advice to heart and have already started preparing their cabins to be moved.
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Les Medlicott (left) and Eugene Mann, both of Saskatoon, sit on the deck of Mann's cabin at Waldsea Lake. The men, who each own a cabin at the lake, were at the lake on January 28 preparing their cabins to be moved as a result of the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority closing the park.


They were told last week to get their stuff and leave.
Some cabin owners at Waldsea Lake have taken that advice to heart and have already started preparing their cabins to be moved.
Les Medlicott of Saskatoon was at his cabin on January 28, disconnecting water and sewer lines, and taking decks off.
Medlicott bought his lot after the 2007 flood and brought in the cabin after the land had been leveled.
Medlicott is very upset about the situation, saying he wouldn't have moved in if he hadn't been told it was safe. He is now moving the cabin because he has no option, but that isn't the end of his problems
"Even if I find another place to put it, who's going to pay for (the lot)?" he asked.
Next door to Medlicott was his son-in-law Eugene Mann. Mann, who is originally from Viscount, now lives in Saskatoon.
"I grew up around this lake," Mann explained.
Mann has had a cabin on his lot for about 10 years.
"I lost the first cabin in 2007 when everything flooded out," Mann said. "We demolished it and built a new one which is almost finished. This kind of sucks. It's finally to the point where we thought we could start enjoying it this summer."
Both men had the cabins at the centre of their retirement plans, planning to live at Waldsea Lake full-time.
"If we have to buy another lot, it will be over $260,000 we've spent on this cabin," Mann said. "If we get nothing back out (from Waldsea), it will hurt."
Mann and Medlicott both say that it's not just about buying another lot, which they are searching for already, it's about the costs of developing it. Putting in grass, gravel, and septic tanks aren't cheap, they noted.
Both men feel that the provincial government is taking advantage of the cabin owners by not offering them any money for their lots, but don't believe there is a lot they can do about it.
"You can't get mad and you can't cry about it because it won't help anything," Mann said. "We realize the berms are going to go and we have to move. But, just give me what I put into it, for the lot."
Mann believes that letting the lake flood out is probably the best solution for the whole area as it should help protect the roads and maybe some farmers in the area, but he doesn't feel that the government is giving them a fair shake.
Besides fair compensation for their property, Mann and Medlicott say that the government should be fast-tracking other lake developments in the area.
"The developers are telling us that it takes too long to get a development started," Mann said. "Where are all these cabins going to go, if there are no developments around?"

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