His parents told him he would be evicted, albeit jokingly.
Last spring break, 14-year-old Travis Britton and his friend and neighbour, Trent, built a fort of tarps, rope and random pieces of wood they were able to scrounge up, entrenched in the woods surrounding Partridge Drive in the Wiltse area.
鈥淓very day we would come up here and add something new. So, maybe a few weeks (to build it),鈥� Travis said. 鈥淲e wanted to get out of the house and just hang out.鈥�
Travis鈥檚 mother, Janice, added the parents were supportive of the fort, which sat behind an undeveloped parcel of land with a for sale sign in front, about two spots down from the Brittons鈥� place.
鈥淲e liked where it was because it was close enough that we could see them, but it was far enough away that they felt like they were really out on their own,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey loved that goofy fort, and there鈥檚 a river running through it, now. But they plan to rebuild.鈥�
But what was once a roughly 30-square-foot forest sanctuary for Travis and Trent is now a pile of debris at the side of Travis鈥檚 house, after the duo arrived at the fort last week to an eviction notice from the City of Penticton.
The city bylaw notice pointed to the Park Regulation Bylaw, which prohibits setting up or occupying temporary shelters in Penticton parkland, and even goes as far as prohibiting depositing or carrying camping equipment into parks.
鈥淲e just saw it and said 鈥榦h well, gotta take it down, I guess,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淲e worked really hard on it.鈥�
But in all, Travis said he wasn鈥檛 too annoyed by it, suggesting they would rebuild on his parents鈥� property.
鈥淲e laughed really hard. Our parents always joke about us getting evicted because we say this is our house,鈥� Travis said.
鈥淎nd then it actually happened.鈥�
Janice said she also had a good laugh about the eviction 鈥� in fact, she had difficulty containing her laughter in an interview with the Western News.
鈥淚t was kind of the running joke that our neighbour across the street asked us if it was from our kids or if it was a homeless camp, and I said 鈥榥o, it鈥檚 the boys being boys,鈥欌�� she said.
鈥淚 thought it was funny, just because I just assumed no one would bother us in the middle of nowhere up there. But just kind of cracked me up that someone actually took the time to write an eviction notice and put it in his own little fort.鈥�
But she said she understood city bylaw had to take complaints seriously, and someone likely confused it for a homeless camp.
In all, what took weeks to build, adding to the fort here and there over time, took about an hour to take down and four or five trips to transport all the debris to the side of his house.
As a tip to future fort builders, Travis suggested they take their time to make it sturdy, noting it fell a couple of times, though it didn鈥檛 take long to repair each time.
鈥淣ot long. That鈥檚 why it kept breaking. Because we didn鈥檛 spend much time repairing,鈥� he said.
But beyond that, he had one more piece of advice:
鈥淏uild it where no one would complain about it.鈥�
