Parkersburg City Council, acting as the Urban Renewal Authority, will consider the purchase of the Economy Inn on Seventh Street for $681,000 as part of efforts to cure slum and blight. (File Photo)

PARKERSBURG — The Parkersburg Urban Renewal Authority is expected to vote Tuesday on purchasing a Seventh Street hotel property for nearly $700,000.

The move would allow the city to demolish the Economy Inn, which Parkersburg City Council President and Urban Renewal Authority Chairwoman Sharon Kuhl said would address slum and blight and reduce the burden on the Parkersburg Police Department.

“I support it 100%,” she said.

The site at 1954 Seventh St. has been discussed as the possible location of a fire station, replacing the one at 13th and Liberty streets, as well as a new city garage. But Kuhl said no decision has been made in that regard.

The purchase of the property is the only item on the agenda for the URA meeting, which will convene after the regular Parkersburg City Council meeting slated for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers on the second floor of the Municipal Building. The authority consists of all nine members of council.

Parkersburg City Council, acting as the Urban Renewal Authority, will consider the purchase of the Economy Inn on Seventh Street for $681,000 as part of efforts to cure slum and blight. (File Photo)

An application to sell the hotel for fair market value was before the URA in November. But no action was taken after the owner, Kishanpooja Corporation, objected to the value determined by the appraisal firm enlisted by the city.

Kuhl said that amount, $490,000, subtracted the projected $170,000 demolition cost. After negotiations between the owner and administration, a price of $681,000 was agreed upon, subject to the authority’s approval, she said.

Since the meeting in November where no action was taken, first responders have been dispatched to the hotel 59 times on calls including medical issues, reports of thefts and two reported overdoses, according to documents included with the URA agenda. Other documentation references complaints to the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department and code violations.

Purchasing the hotel and property would “take a load off of our police officers answering calls there,” Kuhl said.

The authority has about $630,000 in its account for property acquisition and demolition. A resolution on the agenda for the regular council meeting would add $100,000 for that from the previous fiscal year’s fund balance to help cover the cost of the purchase, if approved, Finance Director Eric Jiles said.

That same resolution would also allocate a $32,516 insurance reimbursement to the Fire Department to cover the settlement of a lawsuit filed by Chief Fire Inspector Wayne White over allegations of retaliation and harassment by Mayor Tom Joyce and Fire Chief Jason Matthews. Council approved the settlement at its Aug. 8 meeting following an executive session.

The council agenda also includes a resolution to allocate $235,738.43 in the Parkersburg Wood County HOME Consortium budget to the planned Patriot Point Affordable Housing Development. There is already $250,000 allocated for it, but a memo included with the agenda says supplies and costs of building materials and rising interest rates necessitate an additional subsidy to ensure the 36-unit elderly and family housing development just south of Kohl’s outside the city limits is built. The consortium is managed by the city but serves all of Wood County.

The money would come from $100,000 allocated two years ago to a proposed affordable housing project that was unable to secure needed tax credits and $135,000 allocated for community based development organizations to support the development of affordable housing.

The resolution would also transfer $30,219.15 from expenses that came in under budget and $17,241.11 from slum and blight demolition efforts, in light of a $650,000 state grant for that purpose, to the Downtown Facade Rehabilitation Loan Program. That would cover two additional applications to restore and repair commercial structures downtown, a memo says.

A third resolution would authorize Joyce to apply for, accept and administer a federal grant to provide $27,632 to the Parkersburg Police Department for specialized drone and support equipment and $16,304 to the Wood County Sheriff’s Department for equipment.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.