The 50-day notice given to 30-40 camp residents by the Gore District Council in September said they were to leave by November 20.
But yesterday, a week before that date, both the council and the lessee told the Otago Daily Times they were in discussions over whether the 50-day "occupancy limit" would still apply.
When the ODT visited the site the same day, confusion reigned. One resident was moving out, another had just arrived and a third was half packed away — unsure of what would come next.
Lessee Nicholas Irons said from the very beginning his company had not accepted the council’s termination of the lease, and lawyers were now involved.
He said despite the lease termination he had multiple calls from Work and Income, as recently as this week, referring clients to the camp.
One woman, who had arrived a couple of weeks ago and wished not to be named, seemed unaware of the potential D-Day.
"[Mr Irons] wouldn’t have got me in, two weeks before, if it was about to close down," she said.
"That wouldn’t make sense."
Another long-term occupant, Susan Kennedy, and her husband Garry, had chosen to sell their house three years ago and live at the site.
They had laid down roots, building a deck in the ground in front of their caravan.
When Mrs Kennedy spoke to the ODT yesterday, some of the planks of their deck had been pulled out and their awning was rolled up and packed away.
She said they were cautiously "minimising" their belongings, but were unsure whether they would have to move on in a week.
"I honestly don’t know," she said.
"I don’t think there’s many people that do."
Mr Irons said it was up to the tenants whether they chose to stay or go.
"You've got one person telling them one thing and another person telling them something different," he said.
"People will decide whether they want to follow ... or ignore everything or bury their head in the sand."
Part of the council’s reason for terminating the lease was that the campground had long-term residents, which was not permitted.
Council chief executive Debbie Lascelles told the ODT yesterday the 50-day cutoff was one of the issues in discussion with the lessee.
"The council will provide further information once those discussions have concluded," she said.
In September, the council said it had received ongoing complaints about residents’ safety and the condition of the site.
Yesterday, Mr Irons said if he fixed the "500 million" issues he was asked to, he would be admitting to housing long-term residents, which was not allowed.
"You do too many things on the list ... and at one point it does become ... you've accepted what was said is correct," he said.
He said the problem for the residents was that most of them had nowhere else to go.
Many had mental health problems, or were coming out of prison or both, and Gore had a deficit of support for those kinds of people.
"There’s no options," he said.
"I mean, the campground is a great option for something, but obviously, the people are not wanted, I suppose, by the council."
