WashingtonPost reports that the Prince Williams County, VA Board of Zoning Appeals reversed and rebuked a county decision to ban replacement of “mobile homes” in Holly Acres. Holly Acres Mobile Home park was effectively closed and many homes were ordered demolished in the wake of flooding from Tropical Storm Lee on September 8, 2011. County officials condemned every home in the community, but it was revealed that only 2 of the homes were actually entered by county officials before the order was made to condemn all 63 homes in the location. “Really happy!” Holly Acres resident Sylvia Carranza said after the board vote. ”We lost everything. All we need now is a house to live in.” Carranza said she believes that she could have made enough improvements to her home to save it if the county had allowed her back in. Property owner Henry Ridge said that other homes could have been saved if the county had allowed residents to remove carpet and make other minor repairs. Residents in the largely impoverished, Latino community clapped after the decision was read. Ridge said “Is there some bias toward the Hispanic community?” Mark Moorstein, the attorney representing Holly Acres, said the county acted hastily. Moorstein ascribed no malice toward county officials, but agreed with Ridge that the low-income Latino community was too easily brushed aside. “The county needs to recognize that everyone is a citizen,” he said.
(Editor’s Note: the homes in this story appeared to be pre-HUD Code factory built housing, and if so, they are properly called ‘mobile homes.’)
