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According to the petition it filed to the court, Metro is hoping the court will set aside the branch’s decision and allow the evictions to stand or send the matter back to the branch for reconsideration by a different arbitrator.

“We say, of course, the decision was very reasonable and well within the scope of the arbitrator’s permissible discretion, and was in fact the right, correct decision because it doesn’t make sense in a housing crisis to evict anybody when you don’t know what you’re going to do with the unit that they’re being evicted from or you’re just going to leave it empty,” said Oliver Pulleyblank, the lawyer representing the Belcarra South Preservation Society.

Metro’s board of directors has approved a plan to open the Belcarra South area for public use, which will involve repairing the seven cabins — six of which are occupied — and historic Bole House, and keeping them empty for viewing.

Residents proposed allowing the public into the area while still allowing residents to stay in the cabins and act as interpretive guides, but that idea wasn’t considered.

“Their concern … is that they’re being kicked out when there isn’t a plan for what’s going to happen, and the plan of just leaving them empty so people can look at them is half-baked at best, and then they’re being forced out of their homes for no good reason,” said Pulleyblank.

Pulleyblank noted that the rental market in the Metro area remains tight, and it will be difficult for the cabins’ residents, many of whom have been there “a very long time,” to find accommodations.