How the new Habitat ReStore in Woodbridge helped save 39 families that live in a floodplain thousands in county fines

The Habitat for Humanity Prince William County ReStore held its official grand opening in Woodbridge last night. 

The new store, located at 14055 Noblewood Plaza off Prince William Parkway in Woodbridge, joins its cousin already in operation in Manassas. Both stores are located inside former Food Lion grocery stores.

The new ReStore will allow the charity to collect donations from residents of eastern Prince William County who otherwise might not drive to Manassas do donate. It will also provide Woodbridge-area residents with a selection of used kitchen cabinets, appliances, home furnishings, and more. 

All of the sales at the ReStore go to benefit Habitat for Humanity programs.

Habitat for Humanity Prince William County Executive Director Traci DeGroat tell us: 

“The first thing that people can do is to donate to Habitat for Humanity. We accept building materials, tools, furniture, home decor, pretty much anything you can think of that is used in your own house. So, the donation is recognized by and acknowledgment that can you can use for your tax write-off. And so it’s a win win for that purpose. and it also keeps things out of the recycling bin.

And, we also have volunteers to help us here. We need volunteers to help us with cleaning, testing, accepting donations, getting it on the floor… regular long-term volunters can become cashiers, w e just have a whole variety of things for people to do.”

There are also construction projects that volunteers can work on, like the one DeGroat’s team is working on at the Marumsco Moblie Home Park in Woodbridge.

“This was a job that came to us as an emergency. We first heard about it at the end of November it was. Thirty-nine families were cited with infractions. There’s only 45 families in the community. They had sheds, or covered porches, or decks, or additions that they built on their trailers over the years.

In 1992 when FEMA designated the area as a floodplain, anything built after that time was no longer allowed. So unfortunately when the county discovered the issue because somebody had complained to them, and then they had to go out and investigate, and they had to issue citations. So the residents received notice that they had to take care of everything by December 15 or they were going to receive criminal violations with up to $2,500 fines for occurrence and possible jail time. So Supervisor [Frank Principi, of Woodbridge] pulled together a number of community organizations including us. And we were able to pull together volunteers, all right, in December and get down to the community and take care of all of those violations. Nobody received a citation.”

But with the loss of storage space, families in the trailer park lost space to store tools and other items. So, the Habitat team is back out on site working to build new sheds. This time, DeGroat says: 

“Only those structures that were within the floodplain and were built after 1992 were cited for removal. The sheds we’re building as replacements have received County permits. They are being placed in locations on the property that are outside of the floodplain. A retired engineer, Gregg Reynolds, sited the locations for the sheds and worked through the permitting process with the County. He set all the stakes so we know exactly where to put the sheds.”

The new store is open 9 a.m to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays, and is closed Sundays. You can call the ReStore at 703-369-6145 to schedule a free donation pick up, or by emailing restore[at]habitatpwc.org.