Vance County Planning & Development Director Jordan McMillen informed members of the Vance County Board of Commissioners that the county has received at $40,000 grant to demolish abandoned mobile homes.
McMillen’s announcement was made during the board’s regular monthly meeting this past Monday.
The grant, which allows $1,000 per unit for the demolition, included a $25,000 base amount and $12,000 of supplemental funds, with the difference to be used for planning. In this case, planning will consist of locating mobile homes in need of demolition and plotting them on the county’s GIS (Geographic Information System).
McMillen told members that he believes the funds will pay for the removal of 25-30 abandoned units. He also told members that he intends to focus the cleaning efforts on “high visibility” areas in the county.
Board Chair Danny Wright characterized the number of abandoned trailers that the funds can get rid of as “just the tip of the iceberg”.
Member Deborah Brown asked how McMillen plans to determine how the funds are distributed. She said that there are one of two [trailer] parks that could utilize all of the funds, and that she wants to make sure one owner will not get all of the resources.
McMillen responded that he plans on removing one unit per lot.
Danny Wright asked for McMillen to “put something in writing for us to review”.