Parkersburg Utility Board project to move Police Department shooting range
Municipal Planning Commission approves two requests
Parkersburg Utility Board Manager Eric Bennett, right, holds up plans related to the utility’s request for the abandonment of four city rights of way to facilitate moving the Police Department’s shooting range during Friday’s meeting of the Parkersburg Municipal Planning Commission. Equipment to filter C8 and other forever chemicals from the water supply will be housed at a facility to be built on the existing range. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Parkersburg Municipal Planning Commission member John Reed speaks during Friday’s meeting in council chambers at the Municipal Building. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Parkersburg Utility Board Manager Eric Bennett, right, holds up plans related to the utility’s request for the abandonment of four city rights of way to facilitate moving the Police Department’s shooting range during Friday’s meeting of the Parkersburg Municipal Planning Commission. Equipment to filter C8 and other forever chemicals from the water supply will be housed at a facility to be built on the existing range. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Parkersburg Municipal Planning Commission member John Reed speaks during Friday’s meeting in council chambers at the Municipal Building. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
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PARKERSBURG -- Construction of the facility housing equipment to filter C8 and related chemicals from the Parkersburg Utility Board's water supply will necessitate the relocation of the Parkersburg Police Department's shooting range.
The city Municipal Planning Commission on Friday approved a petition from the utility to abandon four rights of way off Keever Street near the water treatment plant. The PUB plans to consolidate its various parcels there to make room for the shooting range.
The existing range next to the department's gym is part of the area where an approximately 7,000-square-foot facility will be built to house the filtration equipment, PUB Manager Eric Bennett said.
The filtration project came about earlier this year after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a draft maximum contaminant level of 4 parts per trillion for C8, also called perfluorooctanoic acid or PFOA.
The substance, which has been linked to adverse human health effects including some types of cancer, was used for years in the Teflon-manufacturing process at the Washington Works plant owned by DuPont. Although its use was discontinued prior to DuPont spinning off the plant's current owner Chemours, C8 persists in the environment.
Parkersburg's treated water tested below EPA health guidelines prior to the issuance of the new level, which is expected to be finalized this year.
Construction on the $12.6 million project should get under way by the middle of next year, Bennett said during Friday's Planning Commission meeting at the Municipal Building. It's being paid for with a principal-forgiveness loan from the West Virginia Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council. Those funds will also cover relocation of the shooting range.
The application was approved 9-0 with two commission members absent.
Police officers qualify for the use of their weapons multiple times a year at the range, where various trainings and classes are also held.
"We've worked with Mr. Bennett to make sure qualifications and any scheduled training will not be affected by this move," Police Chief Matthew Board said. "It should be a very smooth transition."
In other business Friday, the commission approved an application to abandon an unimproved portion of Agnes Street off Staunton Avenue. Applicants Cody and Brittaney Siers said they have maintained the site for several years and plan to fence it in after completing their purchase of a parcel on the other side of the paper street from the city's Urban Renewal Authority.
Three neighbors spoke in favor of their request, saying it would improve the neighborhood.
MonPower opposed the abandonment due to having power lines crossing the property. City Planner Connor LaVelle said he had emailed representatives of the company earlier in the day to see if they would accept a right of way for access, a standard condition of similar abandonments, but he had not received an answer.
LaVelle recommended approval of the request be conditional on MonPower's approval. But commission member John Reed said they had sought the company's opinion and should make a decision based on what is best for the community.
"I really don't care what MonPower thinks, if I can say that," he said.
A right of way was also needed to provide access to a parcel behind the properties, since an unimproved alley off Kenner Street is inaccessible due to its topography. The Sierses said they would provide the property owner access through the fenced area, but LaVelle said it would be best for a 12-foot wide portion to remain open and publicly accessible.
The Sierses and their neighbors said they did not want that due to the presence of homeless individuals and alleged illegal activity in the area.
"Without the 12-foot (right of way), then we're going to end up cutting off access to property," commission Vice President Eric Gumm said.
A motion by Reed to remove that right of way died for lack of a second, and the original question, without conditional approval based on MonPower's response, was approved 9-0.
Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.