Developer updates Board on mobile-home park purchases, water-system overhaul planned

Stephen Grimes, representing the Proactive Ability Group, used the public-comment period March 3 to update the Board of Public Works on recent acquisitions and rehabilitation plans for two mobile-home parks (Bourne and Sherwood).

Grimes said the company has contracted Pi-Star (Five Star) Metering to install individual water meters at each home and has arranged with Peru Utilities to reactivate street lighting. He described plans to replace the entire water system at both parks — including boring new lines where needed — because existing infrastructure produced large losses: he told the board that one park had 14 residents and a water bill totaling about $28,000 per month. Grimes said the firm will require rental applicants to complete background, credit and eviction checks through a program called DoorLoop and that an on-site manager, Jeff Bibert, will live on site as the company begins move-ins.

Grimes called for increased patrols at the parks as lights are reactivated and said company staff had begun eviction proceedings in some cases to remove squatters. He framed the project as a social-impact effort to restore pride and safer living conditions in the parks and asked the board to note progress and stay engaged as work continues.