The deal to purchase East End Trailer Park should’ve been done by now

Manassas officials tell us the ownership deal for the East End Mobile Home Park was supposed to be done by now.

City Attorney Martin Crim during Monday’s city council meeting noted the Catholics for Housing, the new would-be owners of the trailer park, were supposed to close on the deal that day. It didn’t.

On Wednesday, the city’s economic development director Patrick Small, who has been overseeing the project for the city, told us:

“The city’s been working very closely with the intended purchaser Catholics for Housing, and Catholics for housing is working diligently with the seller. But most of the city’s dealings right now are with Catholics for Housing, and we anticipate being at closing this week.”

Catholic’s for Housing, located in Dumfries, echoed Small’s statement. Executive Director Karen DiVito sent us the following statement via email:

“CFH is in the final stages of clarifying language and documents to meet the requirements of the Subordination Agreement. CFH is eagerly awaiting the closing on this property.”

You’ll remember that in 2016 residents of the trailer park off Route 28 in the city received notices that they could lose their homes because, for years, sewage had been leaking out of pipes and into storm drains, potentially contaminating the public water supply.

After getting nowhere with the owner of the park, the city decided it would purchase the park for nearly $2 million, evict the residents, and demolish the trailers, thus putting an end to the leaky sewage pipes.

Residents fired back telling elected officials they would stand to lose their homes, and that relocating would be a financial hardship. Dumfries-based Catholics for Housing stepped in to purchase the property.

What’s the holdup? Officials tell us Catholics for Housing is working to secure a bond to ensure it can afford to fix the failed sewer, per an agreement it has with the city.

Small tells us:

“…Catholics for Housing has evidenced to us the financial ability [to pay for the needed fixes] but city council additionally asked for a performance bond to be posted. And that’s not an entirely unusual request. But essentially what a performance bond says is that if at any point during the reconstruction of the system Catholics for Housing is unable or unwilling to continue with the reconstruction, the city has the ability to call that bond and complete the work itself. It’s essentially an insurance policy.”

Small added that city staff has had no contact with trailer park residents since distributing the initial notices passed out in 2016 about public hearing about the city’s desire to potentially close the park, with the exception to this, is for the residents who have attended public meetings on the matter at city hall.

Trailer park residents shouldn’t be worried, he added.