Improvements to Trumansburg’s Compass Manufactured Home Community continue

Upgrades to one of the village of Trumansburg’s longstanding housing developments is underway.  

Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services (INHS) purchased the former Auble’s Mobile Home Park at 4337 W. Seneca Rd. in August 2021. The organization then announced plans to expand the development, rehab existing homes and bring a host of improvements to the tenant experience. INHS dubbed the project the Compass Manufactured Home Community (MHC). The 51-year-old, 138-housing-unit community is located within Trumansburg and the town of Covert in Seneca County. 

Some of the expected improvements include overhauls to infrastructure, new shared amenities, a variety of health and safety additions and energy-efficiency features to existing homes. The organization also plans to remove vacant, blighted structures and replace them with newly constructed, energy-efficient homes. 

INHS is also gearing up to repair existing park-owned homes to ensure all safety and code issues are addressed, as well as installing new roads, sanitary lines, street lighting, landscaping and a playground and improving existing water and drainage systems. 

Construction on some of these updates began in November 2022. 

“Acquiring and renovating the Compass Manufactured Home Community ensured that we addressed long-standing infrastructure and code issues for the village while preserving one of the predominant types of affordable housing in our rural service area,” said INHS Executive Director Kate de la Garza.

Justina Fetterly, INHS’s director of community relations, said major project components are nearing completion. 

Initially, the organization had budgeted around $6 million to go toward improvements, including paving and widening the road to 20 feet, sewer and water line replacement and upgrades, electrical upgrades from 100 amp to 200 amp service for most homes, new mailboxes and installation of street lighting. The funding comes from New York State Homes and Community Renewal and INHS.

In addition to necessary maintenance and improvements to infrastructure, plans include the installation of a playground and play court, improved drainage, landscaping updates, relocation of the bus stop to a more central and accessible location and the replacement of an old and dangerous barn with a new parking and storage area, according to the INHS website. The project will also include the installation of garbage facilities for resident use and the removal of 12 abandoned homes and the installation of replacements.

LRS, a Lansing-based company, was awarded the general contract for services on the site, alongside several subcontractors.

Engineering firm T.G. Miller is helping to oversee the project, along with INHS staff.

“New roads and improvements to electrical, water and sewer infrastructure have been completed, with final restoration planned for the coming weeks,” Fetterly said. “Streetlights, community amenities like a playground and basketball court, long-term parking area and other project components are largely complete and have been opened to community use.”

Some of the smaller components of the project, such as removal and replacement of the 12 dilapidated homes, mural installation and arborist work, will begin in the fall.

“[The work] will begin when the prime infrastructure contractor has completed their scope and will be completed as weather permits,” Fetterly added.

When INHS purchased the mobile home park, the organization also acquired more than 70 acres of additional land that could be redeveloped for future housing or other uses. INHS will continue to meet with residents of the community to discuss the improvement plans and progress. Keynote Realty, a firm with decades of experience in manufactured housing, was contracted at the time of purchase to take charge of managing the property’s day-to-day operations, according to an information page on the INHS website. 

Residents interested in learning more about living at Compass MHC can call INHS at 607-277-4500 ext. 201 or email compass@ithacanhs.org.

Ulysses Connection appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com. Contact Eddie Velazquez at edvel37@gmail.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @ezvelazquez.

In brief:

The Ulysses Phylomatic Library (UPL) fall book sale is slated to run Oct. 10-13 by UPL library trustees and volunteers. “We sell good condition used items, donated by the community or deaccessioned from the library collection,” reads a post on the library website. “All proceeds directly support the library’s annual operating budget.”

These are the dates and times for the sale.

Thursday 10/10: 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Friday 10/11: 8:30 a.m to 5 p.m.

Saturday 10/12: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Sunday 10/13: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.