Getting it in writing for Ben’s
Some movement made on solution for Claxton mobile home park (maybe)
Maybe, maybe, some action will finally be taken about the longstanding problems at Ben’s Mobile Home Park in Claxton.
In a surprise move at the end of a routine meeting of the Anderson County Commission’s Operations Committee last Tuesday night, Commissioner Tracy Wandell, who is not on the committee but was in the audience, made an unexpected impassioned plea for action to fix roads in the trailer park, saying in effect, “The buck stops here.” Wandell serves the county’s First District which includes the mobile home park.
Residents of the trailer park, which is on Edgemoor Road in Claxton, have long complained of the deplorable condition of its roads.
Wandell said it had been two years since tax money was spent on an engineering study of the trailer park to determine what actions could be taken to bring it up to county standards, and no action had been taken.
“The folks need some answers,” he said.
Wandell said Ben Graves, the owner of a number of the lots in the park, the other property owners in the park, and the county need to work together to come up with a solution.
“How do we move forward?” he asked.
Rachel Comunale of the county law director’s office said the county does not own the roads, so there is nothing the county can do to fix them. She said the company that originally developed the subdivision went out of business. It sold all its assets except for the roads.
Comunale said her office is still researching what to do.
Commissioner Robert McKamey said, “Somebody has to own it (the road system in the trailer park) or the county owns it.”
He remarked that no one is paying taxes on the roads. If a person did not pay their property taxes, the county would take over their property.
Commissioner Tyler Mayes, who represents the same district as Wandell, noted that at a public meeting last August, residents of the trailer park were told that there was the potential of funding opportunities for road repairs.
Commissioner Tim Isbel said that federal money might be available. “There is surely something we can do,” he said.
Comunale said her office could look into the possibility of outside funding.
Wandell said he had talked with Graves about two months ago and Graves seemed like a reasonable man. He added that Graves had put in speed bumps at the trailer park.
Commissioner Stephan Verran noted it would take $25 million to bring the trailer park’s roads up to county standards. He asked if the county was going to take on that financial responsibility.
“I’m certainly not advocating we take on the roads at this time,” said Wandell.”
He went on to say, “We need to patch them. I don’t know what the solution is.”
Wandell said the residents of the trailer park pay taxes but get no services, and no one has taken the time to try to help them. He said it is no wonder the people in the trailer park were resorting to the use of illegal drugs and starting fires.
Mayes echoed that sentiment saying that it has to be frustrating for the people who live there.
“I’m not totally discouraged,” Wandell said. “I believe we will get it done in some fashion.”
Harold Edwards of the Planning Commission said some of the lots were nonconforming.
He said he does not know how they were deeded with no public road frontage. Edwards surmised that they must have been purchased with cash, because a finance company would not approve such a deal.
Upon Wandell’s urging, the operations committee passed a motion recommending that the board of county commissioners request a written statement on the county’s position and a statement from the highway supervisor as to what it would take to bring the roads up to county standards.