LAKE CITY, SC (WBTW) – Some people are still living on the land at Wedgefield Mobile Home Park, despite Wednesday’s final deadline.
News13s Kiahnna Patterson has followed this story since last July.
There are about two dozen mobile homes still on the land but only 10 people still live in the neighborhood.
Last June, nearly 100 residents received a 60-day notice to move from the Greater Lake City Development office. The office, formed by Lake City Council, bought the land for $75,000 with plans to building housing.
The residents got a lawyer and asked for more time. Judge Hugh Porter granted two extensions.
Margaret Robinson was one the first tenants to move into the Wedgefield Mobile Home Park 32 years ago. Since then she raised five kids in her home.
“This is where grandkids and great grandkids… this where they would come to visit me,” said Robinson.
Since then, she moved off the land but could not take her mobile home with her.
“When Mr. Taylor Jack… started jacking it up… it started coming loose right here… it started to crack…where the seal over the years has started to rot because of the weather,” she explained.
The final extension expired Wednesday. Now, Frank Mathes and nine other families are still living on the land.
Mathes saved up enough money to move the second week of February. He has tried to move several times but the weather was a major obstacle. He tried to move Thursday but the ground was too soft.
“When they got up under the house and tried to jack it up. The ground was too soft. The jack kept going down instead of up,” he said “We’re just waiting to move. Yesterday we were ready. I had my bag packed we were going to stay in a motel for a few days until the trailer moved. I had the truck loaded and everything…”
Mathes is now scrambling to find a new mover but it’ll cost him a few hundred more dollars.
“I do have feelers out for a couple of other movers. My neighbor moved Tuesday but the mover she got, he wants $700 to $1,000 more than what this mover asked for,” he explained. “If I have to go with him it’s going to be a struggle. If I have to, I will because I don’t want to lose my home if they tell us we have to go.”
While, Mathis says he is grateful for the deadline extensions because they allowed him to save enough money to move his home to Florence. He is fearful of what will happen if he can’t move soon.
“I’m just worried that the Sheriff’s office is going to knock on our door saying we have to move and we have no place to go,” he said.
Director of the Greater Lake City Development office Steve Gantt says he plans to meet with his legal team Monday to create a plan moving forward for vacant houses and people still living on the land.
