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Parkersburg Urban Renewal Authority votes on properties

Photo by Evan Bevins Parkersburg Urban Renewal Authority Chairman Mike Reynolds speaks during Tuesday’s meeting in City Council chambers at the Municipal Building. The authority approved recommendations from staff to pursue selling five properties and hold on to 20 others.

PARKERSBURG — The Parkersburg Urban Renewal Authority this week accepted recommendations from the Development Department on which of its properties to sell and which ones to hold onto as members look toward a more concerted effort to redevelop blighted areas.

Of the properties held by the authority, the Development staff recommended selling five properties and keeping 20 for potential use in neighborhood improvement or other activities. The list was approved by the authority, which consists of all members of Parkersburg City Council.

“What that would allow us to do as staff is market the properties we want to sell,” Development Director Rickie Yeager said prior to the vote during Tuesday’s meeting of the authority in council chambers at the Municipal Building.

By the same token, the staff would know council is not interested in selling other sites, although offers involving significant developments would still be considered, he said. Any potential sale would have to be approved by the authority.

The recommendations were based on factors that included lot size, whether it conformed with planning and zoning codes, the potential “highest and best use” of the property, long-term redevelopment potential and proximity to other URA properties, Yeager said.

Photo by Evan Bevins Parkersburg Development Director Rickie Yeager discusses recommendations for what to do with 25 properties owned by the city’s Urban Renewal Authority during an authority meeting Tuesday in City Council chambers at the Municipal Building. The authority approved the recommendations 8-0.

Three of the locations recommended for sale — 619 and 823 14th St. and 806 Swann St. — are described in documents provided to the authority as small lots, the only use for which is a side yard to a neighboring property.

The other two were a vacant lot at 407 Fourth Ave. that is recommended for commercial use and a lot at 1509 Andrew St. recommended for sale to a buyer looking to build a single-family house.

Councilman Eric Barber made a motion to remove that one from the list, but it died for lack of a second. The recommendations were approved unaltered on an 8-0 vote, with Councilman Zach Stanley absent.

Four of the properties the authority agreed to hold — 1601 Staunton Ave., 820 Wood St., 1110 E. 12th St. and 1310 Avery St. — were identified as potential sites for underground stormwater storage and retention as part of an effort to address the city’s aging storm drainage system.

Others are located close together and seen as potential sites for redevelopment projects.

Going back to a January 2018 workshop, council members have discussed encouraging new housing and improving neighborhoods via the Urban Renewal Authority, with suggestions including housing for veterans and allowing the construction of so-called tiny houses.

In August, Yeager presented a housing initiative proposal to the authority. It consists of recommendations for “reurbanizing” neighborhoods near downtown, along Seventh Street and in the vicinity of Dudley Avenue that were once thriving middle class areas but have deteriorated over time. Among the potential strategies were establishing a nonprofit community development corporation to implement effective strategies, designating an area for the creation of tiny houses, acquiring additional properties and considering a tax abatement program for the construction or rehabilitation of market rate and affordable housing in targeted neighborhoods.

Councilman Mike Reynolds has been chairman of the Urban Renewal Authority for five years. Recently elected council president for 2019, he said he plans to continue as head of the authority and wants to discuss the housing program recommendations in January.

Reynolds would like to see the authority develop basic floor plans for single- and two-story houses, then reach out to contractors about constructing them in targeted areas. The projects would likely have to be put out for bid.

“I think we want to try to redevelop areas one block at a time,” he said. “I think that’ll make the biggest impact in some of the areas where it’s needed the most.”

The list of properties to hold includes three in the 1300 block of St. Marys Avenue and two on 13th Street that could be used as access to them, as well as others located within less than a mile of that area.

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