Homes may return to Woodsdale Trailer Park

New data gathered from the Jan. 19 flooding of the Woodsdale Trailer Park prompted owners of the trailer park to send representatives from the Keystone Real Estate Group to the State College Borough Council meeting last night.

Eric Smith, a representative of the Keystone Real Estate Group, 444 E. College Ave., said the January flooding and the information gathered from that flooding have provided the owners of Woodsdale with a reason to the fill the flood plains.

Smith said the data of the effects of the flooding was one piece of the puzzle missing when the proposal to fill the flood plains was presented to the council before.

"The fact of the matter is this land is in transition between uses," said John Sepp, an engineer for PennTerra Engineering, Inc., 2041 Cato Ave. Sepp said if the plains were filled and a flood wall was erected, then the site could be redeveloped for trailers. The homes would be anchored securely and elevated two feet above the ground.

Sepp said the water that flows through the property could be stopped by small levees which would send the water back into the stream. Computer analysis of the area presented by Sepp shows the relation between the flow of water down the channel and through the site.

"The amount of water flowing through the site was insignificant. It was less than one percent," Sepp said. He suggested the wise thing to do would be to fill the site to bring it out of flood plain and prevent the flooding from happening again.

Although when the proposal first was presented to council there was a possibility of the building of a Uni-Mart. Smith said the only use the owners of Woodsdale are considering is the addition of more trailer homes.

"Most assuredly they will be returning mobile homes to the site," Smith said.

Council members were not convinced the second presentation of the plan was any different than the first.

"I think in essence the proposal is similar," said Council President Tom Daubert.

The request has been referred to the next council work session.