PARKERSBURG - After viewing improvements made at the south side Grandview Trailer Park since new ownership took over, Wood County commissioners agreed to lift a ban on new building permits for the park.
The trailer park, located just off Gihon Road, has been the source of complaints dating back to 2004, said Wood County Solid Waste Authority director/county compliance officer John Reed.
Reed, along with Wood County commissioners, visited the trailer park Thursday afternoon to see the improvements new owner Tom Hohman has made. Hohman has the same last name as the previous owner Don Hohman, but the two men are not related.
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Photo by Pamela Brust
John Reed, director with the Wood County Solid Waste Authority and county compliance officer, talks with the new owner of Grandview Trailer Park, Tom Hohman. The trailer park had been the subject of complaints since 2004. The new owner is cleaning up the trailer park, clearing out junked mobile homes and addressing sewerage problems.
The county had refused to issue additional building permits for the trailer park until a clean-up plan was under way.
The property was sold back in 2011. There are 42 lots on the property and 25 trailers.
Hohman said, with the assistance of 911 and the county commissioners, he had the streets named, signs erected and numbered all the properties.
"That makes it easier for fire, police trying to find a trailer," Hohman said.
Sewerage problems were addressed, a number of junked trailers were removed, the lots cleared and mowed, and Hohman said literally tons of trash was hauled away from the property.
"The park looks significantly better, with the new fence up and the cleanup," Reed said Thursday.
Hohman said every two months trailers he rents out are receiving much-needed maintenance, including plumbing work, some are getting new flooring, new walls.
"It costs a lot of money, but we're taking it one step at a time," Hohman told the commissioners.
"It's a huge improvement from what it used to be. I just don't want it to go back to the way it was before. It seems like you've really done your homework," Commissioner Wayne Dunn told Hohman. "It will be nice once you get it all done."
"We appreciate your dedication to a project that a lot of men would have turned their back on," commission President Blair Couch told Hohman.
Prior to the new owner taking over, Parkersburg Utility Board and Division of Environmental Protection officials found numerous problems with the park's sewerage system.
