Mobile home park district in Albany to be redeveloped

ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - A major topic of discussion at Monday’s Dougherty County Commission meeting was the proposed zoning change that would allow for the redevelopment of an existing mobile home park district in Albany.

The district is located at 3501 Sylvester Hwy. Most of the mobile homes that were originally in the park are no longer there due to damage that now puts the park in fair to poor condition. The park was first damaged in 2017 by a tornado, then again in 2018 from high winds during Hurricane Michael.

According to the meeting agenda, “the rezoning would allow for the development of an existing mobile home park.”

One concern brought up by District 3 Commissioner Clinton Johnson was how the redevelopment would impact how easily the property flooded when it rained. Residents were only able to go out the back door whenever it rained because of the flooding that resulted from runoff water from the highway since the extension.

Binh Dao is the applicant and owner of Willow Nook Park, LLC, and was represented by Director of Engineering at Lanier Engineering Bobby Donley during the meeting.

There is a floodplain on the west side of the property. The developers plan to work with county engineering on establishing flood elevation, according to Donley.

“We want to create a safe, attractive community that provides competitive housing options for the residents,” Dao said. “So, we want this to be a neighborhood that people are proud of.”

They plan to install a playground for families to utilize. There will also be a water program that will address the flooding issue.

“It’s not just going to be a parking lot with mobile homes in it,” Dao said.

Dao told the board that the homes would either be bought by Willow Nook Park, LLC, and placed in the lot or have local retailers bring in mobile homes and put them on the developers’ site to sell. Having retailers bring in the homes would make it faster for people to purchase the homes.