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WHEELING - City Council is expected to hear first reading on the city's 2020-21 fiscal year budget and consider several other matters tonight during its regular meeting, which will take place in a slightly altered setting because of social distancing restrictions.
City leaders will still meet at 5:30 p.m. in council chambers at the City-County Building on Chapline Street downtown, but council chambers will be limited to city council members, the mayor, the city manager and various department heads who regularly attend council meetings.
The meeting is scheduled to be televised on West Liberty University's WLU-TV -- cable Channel 14 -- for public access, Mayor Glenn Elliott said Monday. Members of the public wishing to speak at the meeting will be given an opportunity to enter council chambers and do so one at a time, he noted.
On the agenda is the introduction of the city's budget for the next fiscal year. The general fund budget, as well as the city's 2020-21 Coal Severance Budget, are expected to come before council for first readings. The city's revenues and expenditures for the next fiscal year are projected to total $35.78 million.
Also on the agenda is the proposed approval of an amendment to the city's zoning code relating to the minimum building height for new structures in the downtown business district. The proposal aims at amending the zoning restriction to establish a two-story minimum building height downtown instead of a three-story minimum.
The measure takes a step back from a debated ordinance passed by a split vote in 2017 requiring newly constructed buildings in downtown zoning districts to be three stories tall at minimum. City leaders supporting the 2017 restrictions maintained a downtown business with several one-story structures would make the city look like a "strip mall" or "a bunch of drive-thrus." Opponents expressed concerns about possibly limiting new development and difficulty finding and keeping tenants in upper floors, noting that several buildings in the downtown area already have vacant upper floors.
The Wheeling Board of Zoning Appeals recently received an application from Ohio Valley Community Federal Credit Union for a variance reducing the minimum building height in the D-2 Zone from three stories to two stories in order to construct a new building at 1114 Chapline St.
Council is also expected to consider a final amendment on a street vendor ordinance reducing the recently imposed distance restriction from 100 feet to 25 feet for street vendors wishing to operate on public property within proximity of an established business selling similar wares.
Legislation scheduled to be introduced during today's meeting include:
* A resolution authorizing the city of Wheeling to accept the supplemental award to the Governor's Highway Safety Grant in the amount of $22,620
* An ordinance authorizing the city manager to expend funds in the amount of $25,183 with Dukes Root Control of Syracuse, N.Y., for the purchase of a root control system to be charged to the Water Pollution Control Division.
* A resolution authorizing the city manager to negotiate the terms and conditions and execute a parking services agreement with Parkmobile LLC, which provides integrated solutions for the management of parking-related matters, including electronic payments, band-office administration and online sales of parking permits.