Politics & Government

Holly Acres Says County Violated Constitution

Attorneys representing Holly Acres Mobile Home Park are seeking $8 million in damages because the county has refused to let the mobile home park rebuild after flooding destroyed more than 30 trailers there in September.

The Holly Acres Mobile Home Park claims that the Prince William Board of County Supervisors violated the Constitution and state law by not letting homeowners rebuild after a this past summer, according to court records filed today.

Mike Moorstein, the lawyer for Holly Acres Mobile Home Park owner Henry Ridge, filed the complaint today in response to the county’s filing with the circuit court a request to overturn the Board of Zoning Appeal’s decision to let the owners rebuild at the park. The complaint seeks $8 million in damages for the owner of the 10-acre park off Rt. 1.

The complaint alleges that the county has commissioned numerous reports since the 1950s that show that the adjacent Marumsco Creek has been clogged with debris and its culverts in disrepair while the county still approved rampant growth in the area, which dramatically increased the volume of water flowing down the creek. The chief culvert is owned by CSX railroad.

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The complaint alleges that the staff report and contains “substantial misstatements of fact and law” regarding how the county handled the flood and laws regarding the National Flood Insurance Program and Federal Emergency Management Administration’s regulations. The county board’s decision to appeal the BZA’s ruling hinged on information the state provided that the county could lose its standing in the NFIP if it allowed Holly Acres to rebuild, which could result in high premiums for insurers or the inability to get coverage at all.

Moorstein’s complaint calls this “a red herring, since issues of eligibility are subject to FEMA hearing and the provisions of the NFIP itself.” The complaint also cites that the board did not give any consideration to the financial impact to the park.

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The complaint further slams county chairman Corey Stewart saying that he “singled out displaced residents of Holly Acres for concerns of safety,” but he ignored the reports that stated the CSX culvert needed to be enlarged and the creek flooding needed to be addressed.

The complaint alleges that the county has “diminished the available low income housing” in the area which in turn “doom low income families from living in the county or relegate them to the most dangerous parts of the county.”

County staff have said that the reports Moorestein has cited were not focused on how to prevent flooding at the mobile home park and shouldn’t be construed that way. Staff said that it is a danger to health and safety to have mobile home parks in the flood area but because the park was built in the 1970s it was a legal non-conforming use.

The complaint states that Henry Ridge “suffers lost value and damages of $8 million including lost business revenue of $65,000 per month.”  The complaint seeks compensation for each month since the county has prevented the rebuilding at the park and compensation for legal fees.


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