SHELBY COUNTY, TN (abc24.com) - Another fire due to arson broke out at the Countryview Mobile Home Park in Northaven. Sunday night a mobile home on the property was set on fire.
More than 100 mobile homes were destroyed by floodwaters last year. People who owned those homes simply walked away and the park has been an eyesore ever since.
The property has turned into a dump, and the cost of cleaning up may be dumped into the laps of Shelby County taxpayers.
"We've got a very troubling situation out there," said Steve Shular, spokesperson for the Shelby County Mayor's office. He says resolving the situation at Countryview Mobile Home Park "is frustrating to us but we can only imagine how frustrating it is to the people that are living near this."
On Sunday, August 5, those living near the mobile home park saw it lit up for the sixth time this year.
The county has repeatedly ordered the owner to clean up, but so far the response has been that "he doesn't have the money to move those things out of there," Shular said.
Now money may be removed from taxpayers' pockets in order to get the job done.
Shular admits he doesn't know how much the cleanup will cost, but "we'll find a way to get those trailers out of there," he said. "We're going to be working hand in hand with the DA's office to see if we can't get this area declared a public nuisance."
Shular says the county will exhaust all possible options before spending taxpayer dollars to clean up the mobile home park.
