County Council asked to assist Juleswood Drive residents
Marilee Jackson (right) and Roger Gore asked Darlington County Council to help residents of the Juleswood Drive Mobile Home Park
Photo by Samantha Lyles
By Samantha Lyles, Staff Writer, slyles@newsandpress.net
Representatives of residents displaced from a local mobile home park asked Darlington County Council for assistance at council’s July 18 regular meeting.
Community development consultant Marilee Jackson and Rev. Roger Gore of the Family Engagement Program related the story of Juleswood Drive Mobile Home Development, where eight families – mostly senior citizens or disabled persons – lived for over 30 years. These residents own their mobile homes, but not the land. When landowner Barbara Stanley passed away, legal representatives of her estate notified Juleswood residents on April 19 that they had 30 days to vacate the property and remove their homes.
“Many of them did not have the resources to move or the money to move, so they called us for assistance,” said Jackson, noting that the residents have received help from S.C. Legal Aid. “The major problem is they have nowhere to go, no way to move the trailers… and most of the trailers cannot be moved because they are so old.”
The mobile home park was, Jackson said, poorly maintained, with no roads and numerous abandoned and vandalized trailers. Jackson and Gore presented council with a proposal to rezone Juleswood from commercial to residential, and to designate it as an “Area in Need of Redevelopment” so the county could purchase the land or resell it to a developer. This actions would also open up access to federal and state financing or grant funding to help the current owners to either remain on the property, receive fair market value for the sale of their homes, or receive rental assistance should they need to be re-homed in apartments.
Jackson said the problem experienced by Juleswood residents is common to mobile home owners across the state and nation, where people own a home without the security of owning the land where it sits. She noted that Darlington County has over 10,000 mobile home owners, and those constituents need legal protection to shield them from the threat of sudden homelessness.
“We’re here asking for help. It is a human rights issue,” said Jackson.
She requested a meeting with members of County Council and the local legislative delegation to brainstorm ideas and perhaps come up with a plan to pass ordinances / laws to prevent recurrence of this problem in the future.
On the regular agenda, council passed final reading of Ordinance 16-16, authorizing a $3.6 million lease-purchase agreement to replace vehicles and equipment for various county departments.
The annual contract with the Darlington County Humane Society to operate the Animal Shelter was given unanimous approval. This contract for $148,345 to cover operational expenses and salaries is included in the 2016/17 fiscal year budget.
Council agreed to sell 1.39 acres of county-owned land located on Industrial Way in Darlington to Sun Superior, LLC, for $5,000. This parcel is currently unoccupied and provides no revenue, and the county has no plans to use it in the future. Sun Superior owns the property adjacent to this parcel, and they were the lone bidder.
Computer upgrades were approved for two agencies: the Sheriff’s Office will use $31,667 in federal drug seizure funds to improve network security to meet SLED/FBI standards, and the County Election Commission will use $4,600 in county money to buy ten new laptops and get ten more laptops free from the State Election Commission.
Council also agreed to implement a quality assurance call-monitoring program for E-911 Central Communications Center, and they voted to adopt a social media conduct policy for county employees.