Tuesday night the Wake Forest commissioners, led by Commissioner Bridget Wall-Lennon, insisted Middleburg Communities, the developer for the rental community that will replace Wellington Mobile Home Park, dig into its pockets for the full $250,000 they have promised to help the Wellington displaced residents and then add the $125,000 Middleburg will get when the town does away with part of the recreation and park fee for that development.
But Jason Pfizer, a vice president who spoke for Middleburg, could not promise the company would agree to the additional money. He promised to try to get that agreement by the end of day Wednesday. The public hearing about Wellington was postponed until the planning board’s new regular meeting Tuesday, Sept. 14.
There was a real muddle about the $125,000. Pfizer said he thought it was “understood” that the town would not charge the recreation and park fee. All the commissioners said they had not heard about the $125,000, which would reduce Middleburg’s investment in the relocation help from $250,000 to $125,000. Commissioner Jim Dyer said, “You keep throwing around $250,000 but it is really $125,000.”
A representative from Wake County Department of Housing said there is really not any assistance for mobile home owners like those at Wellington who have to move from a park because of eviction notices. “It’s a gap we have in our services.” Wall-Lennon asked what help Wake County would have for those Wellington residents left homeless.
There was a discrepancy in the number of homes which cannot be moved because of age under federal law – Dyer said three – and the number whose condition made a move impossible – 12, according to Ronnie Jackson, a resident and one of the leaders of the group of residents which first protested owner George Mackie Jr.’s decision to sell.
Wall-Lennon kept the discussion from the aspects of the rezoning, which some of the planning board members tried to pursue. There are going to be a number of people who are potentially homeless, she said. “We don’t want to gloss over that fact.” She noted that Mackie, who has refused to even hear about a group which would buy the mobile home park for the same money he would get through the contract with Middleburg, has sent eviction notices to all the park residents and said he will close the park in January.
Pfizer said Mackie told the Middleburg people negotiating with him that he planned to build a mobile home park on other land he owns and move the Wellington residents there.
Several Wellington residents and friends were in the audience. Joy Shillingsburg, leader of the Wake Forest Community Meal Program, said, “Here is what I know to be true about this proposal for rezoning a low density affordable housing area to become a high density residential area: the multi-billion dollar out-of-state Middleburg Communities development company has pushed you the Town Commissioners and the residents of Wellington Park between a rock and a hard place. Commissioners and Wellington residents are holding a “double edged sword” as one resident said to me.
“You both feel like you have to side with the developer who is putting in the very small amount of money, and tonight we learned they are offering even less, about $5,000 per family, and rezone the land displacing veterans, the elderly and working people OR fight and deny rezoning leaving the residents homeless or dislocated without the money that is important but not sufficient to people on a fixed income. This is the hard place that both residents and commissioners are in tonight.
“As I’ve observed, thought about and listened to the many sides of this situation over the months I understand the terrible position Middleburg has put our town in. Our town doesn’t want to displace the veterans, the daycare providers, the healthcare workers and the small business owners that I have met at Wellington to face the most competitive housing market in our history.
“Dislocation and eviction has generational repercussions – children have to change schools, people lose their jobs, their social networks are disrupted and those people already on the margins face homelessness. There is no price tag that you can put on dislocating the people of Wellington Park. I hope that Wake Forest leadership can show big developers and the hardworking citizens of Wellington that we value affordable housing and that we care about hard working people, the disabled, and veterans, and families.”
Jackson, who fought back tears and visible anger as he spoke, recounted the weekly Tuesday evening meetings that kept the residents informed about the situation and led them to decide it was better to stop fighting the rezoning and have some money to relocate than to continue fighting and have to move without the money.
“There are 20 families that will be instantly homeless,” Jackson said. “One-third of them are Hispanic families where the parents do not speak English and their children have to translate for them. These families do not have the ability to get receipts,” which is a condition for the families if Middleburg does not just give the families a check. (Editor’s note: Many Wellington families do not have bank accounts and would find it difficult to change a check into cash.)
Jackson said Middleburg will be moving residents who can find space in another mobile park from a place where they feel and are safe to places that can be drug-infested and full of violence.
Myra, whose last name the editor did not catch, said she has lived at Wellington for 13 years. If the residents can get $5,300 or so it will not cover much of their expenses because it can cost $20,000 to $25,000 to move a mobile home. She addressed the town commissioners: “Please help us.”
The question boiled down to Commissioner Liz Simpers’ question: “What can we do for these people?”
Dyer said the rebate of the park and recreation fee “wasn’t a condition” when he talked with Pfizer. Wall-Lennon said again that the $125,000 rebate is new. And why, she asked, would the town want to see the receipts from the relocations. Commissioner Adam Wright said it should be left to the residents to decide which families to include in order to divide the money equally.
There was no word about the Middleburg decision by press time.
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6 Responses
Great article and it’s true middleburg and Mackie are going to cost the town money while they line there pockets and why doesn’t the town have the power to stop this ? I mean there the mayor and the law and how can a evil be allowed to triumph in this day and age. This is wrong and someone needs to do something about this to stand up for what is right and say “No this isn’t going to happen we aren’t going to allow good people to suffer like this “
I’m sorry if the following comes across as cold, it’s not my intention. But I believe there are a few facts that need to be acknowledged. #1: When you’re living on rented property without a lease, there is no guarantee regarding how long you will be able to live there. You just have to be given proper notice as to when that rental agreement will be terminated. #2: If you’ve been living in this country for years (possibly decades), and you haven’t bothered to learn the language, that was your choice. It’s not a reason to expect, or to be given, special treatment or considerations. #3: Banks will allow you to open an account and deposit a check, And no one is forcing the commissioners to do anything except their job…properly rule on a rezoning application. Sometimes reality bites. Be prepared for it.
Carol, I so appreciate the depth of your article for it truly did catch the spirit of the meeting. I could not have been more proud of the city commissioners nor the planning and zoning board and their prodding Pfizer until he finally had to admit that his 250,000 dollar offer is only 125,000 and that they have given little to no consideration as to how those funds could be equitably distributed. We all left that night hurting for the residents of Wellington Park and totally disbelieving how callous George Mackie has been in this entire episode. Through the efforts of One Week and our local churches, we offered him dollar for dollar what the developer had committed; so that our town and the folks at Wellington Park could all be winners, but to no avail.
Carol, Your article on the rezoning of Wellington Park was thorough and comprehensive. The hearing itself was democracy in action and showed that our town commissioners and planning board do care about its citizens whether they own an $800,000 home or a mobile home. I particularly appreciate your quoting Joy Shillingsburg’s beautiful poetic statement of what the reality and truth is for the town and Wellington Park. The only thing that Joy left unsaid was that the only winner in this travesty is George Mackie who gets the big bucks by putting people out on the street. The big fish eat the little fish!
It should be illegal for any corporation anywhere to pressure communities into doing anything, especially not making people homeless! That’s just wrong on every level!
Why does anyone in Wake Forest give a hoot about Middleburg Communities? Their not even a NC company. Their ONLY interest in Wake Forest is to suck cash out of the community. Send them packing!