Local News

Demo money: Parkersburg council approves reimbursement

PARKERSBURG - Parkersburg City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to reimburse the Wood County Society for the demolition of a downtown building.

The Wood County Society plans to turn the property at 810 Market St. into the Nurture and Grow Learning Center, which will provide services to residents with individual and developmental disabilities.

To receive the reimbursement, the organization will have to get competitive bids and follow other city guidelines. The amount of money the city reimburses them will depend on how much the demolition costs.

Mayor Tom Joyce said the Society would have been eligible for demolition reimbursement under a program the city funded with money from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection but the funds had already been encumbered. He said he would not have supported this reimbursement if the organization didn't have a plan to redevelop the site.

"There's a lot of folks who would want a demolition reimbursement who might not be ready," Joyce said. "These folks are ready."

Wood County Society Executive Director Brandon Gress said the building they are planning to demolish has been deemed unsafe.

"We are ready," said Gress. "We are hoping to break ground in March of 2024."

Council also voted 7-1 to allocate $460,000 in federal HOME funds to the Patriot Center development from another project that fell through. The Patriot Center is a proposed

$8 million housing development that would provide 33 units of affordable housing for elderly residents.

Councilwoman Jesse Cottrille cast the dissenting vote, saying after the meeting that she "still had questions on it."

Council unanimously voted to declare a vacancy in the District 9 seat, starting a 10-day period for the city's Republican Executive Committee to nominate three potential replacements. Joyce will then have five days to appoint one of them. The city's Republican Executive Committee will announce how residents can apply for the seat.

In other business:

* Council unanimously approved the first readings of ordinances vacating a 60-by-140-foot unimproved portion of Agnes Street off Staunton Avenue and an area between 24th and 26th Streets west of Keever Street to aid in the relocating of the Police Department shooting range.

* Members unanimously approved Joyce's appointment of Ricci Hendershot to the Mid-Ohio Valley Transit Authority and his recommendation of Mary Keating to serve on the Mid-Ohio Valley Board of Health.

Convening as the Urban Renewal Authority, members voted 6-1, with Councilman J.R. Carpenter absent, to keep 702 13th St. in the hope of selling it, while demolishing 704 and 708 13th St. Council President and URA Chairwoman Sharon Kuhl voted against the motion primarily because the authority "is not in the real estate business." Kuhl also mentioned that the three buildings, which are on the same lot, were donated to the URA with demolition in mind.

Kuhl also voted against putting 1517 19th St. up for sale on govdeals.com with a minimum bid of $10,000. The URA voted last month to have a real estate agent handle the sale.

Councilman Mike Reynolds also voted against that motion, as he thought the minimum bid could have been higher. He thinks the lot would sell for more than $10,000.

"We still ought to make a high minimum bid," he said. "I feel like the minimum bid is kind of important."

The motion passed 5-2.

The authority voted 6-1 to put 1238 Swann St. up for sale on govdeals.com, with Kuhl opposed on the same grounds as her other votes.

Reynolds said the Swann Street house is "big and in decent shape."

Reynolds noted the house has six bedrooms and the woodwork is intact. The only downsides of the lot that Reynolds noted were that the inside needs a paint job, the gutters needs fixed and so does the porch.

Clara Noelle can be reached at intern@newsandsentinel.com.