CELPIP Reading Part 4 Practice Test: Overnight Van Parking in Gannet Cove Debate

Every summer, camper vans fill the waterfront parking lots of Gannet Cove. Some travellers linger a single night on a coastal journey; others settle in for weeks. Councillors are now weighing a bylaw prohibiting sleeping in vehicles anywhere in town between eleven at night and six in the morning, with first offenders fined $250.

Councillor Harjit Bains, the author of the bylaw, reports that complaints have tripled in three years. Residents near the wharf describe waste abandoned behind the boathouse, generators running late into the night, and spaces already occupied when local fishers depart before dawn. Bains professes no ill will toward travellers; his difficulty is administrative. “A municipality of 3,000 can’t pursue the inconsiderate few one at a time,” he reasons, and a supervised lot would require staff the budget cannot fund this year.

Lorraine Pike, owner of the Driftwood Campground two kilometres away, endorses the ban, though not from the motive many assume. Her sites are booked solid throughout the summer, so the vans scarcely dent her revenue. Her grievance concerns equity. “I pay property tax, I pay to have septic tanks emptied, and I pass health inspections annually,” she notes, whereas anyone parked at the wharf frequents washrooms her taxes help maintain. A municipally operated overnight lot she dismisses as “a campground subsidized by ratepayers.”

Theo Marchetti, a retired engineer with four summers of coastal van travel behind him, labels the bylaw “a sledgehammer to swat a mosquito.” Most van travellers, he insists, carry their own toilets and leave nothing behind. He advocates converting part of the gravel lot behind the arena into a paid overnight area with a dump station and a three-night maximum, predicting, “Plenty of visitors would gladly hand over $20 for somewhere legal and quiet.”

Yvonne Achebe, whose bakery faces the wharf, has scrubbed up after careless visitors herself and accepts that the present situation is unsustainable. Yet van travellers generate approximately a quarter of her summer sales, and she has her fears. “Deny them anywhere to stay and they’ll bypass us altogether.” A designated area would suit her, provided customers could walk to the shops.

Mayor Colette Arsenault remains undecided.

I live two streets from the wharf, and more than once a generator has kept my children awake past midnight. Still, I think Councillor Bains is wrong to 6. Choose…tar every traveller with one brushlisten to the residents near the wharfcharge visitors for parkingleave washrooms to ratepayers. 7. Choose…Contrary to his claims, most travellers behave wellAs he grants, the budget could stretch to staffAs he grants, most travellers behave wellAs Ms. Pike says, most travellers behave well.

Ms. Pike’s 8. Choose…objection to freeloadingfear of lost revenuedislike of late-night noisedistaste for camper culture is legitimate, yet Mr. Marchetti’s scheme answers it and would also give travellers 9. Choose…showers at the Driftwood Campgroundfree parking steps from the bakerya legal spot by the wharfa place to empty tanks. As for staffing, $20 a night from a few dozen vans would cover a summer student’s wages.

Ms. Achebe’s ledger settles it for me: 10. Choose…the vans are a sideshow for herthe vans barely registerthe vans matter to her summerthe vans cost her more than they earn. Give the paid lot one summer before reaching for fines. Neighbours who want quiet nights and shopkeepers who want customers need not be enemies, and a trial would show whether the numbers add up.