Photo by Eric Ayres - The former Clay School building on 15th Street in East Wheeling has sat virtually vacant for decades since the last school bell rang there in the 1990s.

The city of Wheeling is launching a digital survey to provide residents a vehicle to share their perspectives on the future of the former Clay School site located in East Wheeling. City officials encourage all residents to participate, as the results will be tabulated and serve as the foundation for a later community meeting.

Access to the digital survey is through the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/clayschoolcommunitysurvey

For residents that do not have access to a computer with internet access or a smartphone, physical copies of the survey will be available upon request from the City of Wheeling or Wheeling Heritage.

The survey provides an opportunity for residents to express their opinions, share valuable insights, and contribute to the decision-making process regarding the Clay School’s revitalization.

While the city encourages all residents, regardless of their location within Wheeling, to participate, the voices of those residing in East Wheeling are of particular importance.

The Clay School, which has remained vacant for several years, presents a unique opportunity to reinvigorate the East Wheeling community.

“In an effort to make the most informed and thoughtful decisions about its future, the City of Wheeling aims to gather diverse perspectives and ideas from the community. The survey responses will play a pivotal role in shaping the Clay School Conceptual Redevelopment Plan, which will be developed by real estate development consultant Tipping Point,” says Robert Herron, Wheeling City Manager.

“At Tipping Point, our mission is to unlock a neighborhood’s highest potential through commercial real estate. It is ingrained in our DNA to actively involve the community and empower residents to have a say in their future,” said Jim Ambrose, President of Tipping Point.

The survey will play a crucial role in establishing potential development scenarios for the area and will remain open until June 30.

The City of Wheeling and Tipping Point will work with East Wheeling’s community stakeholders to organize and facilitate an in-person community meeting based on the data. The primary goal of the meeting will be to explore the biggest opportunities discovered and establish potential development scenarios.

Tipping Point will then collaborate with a design and construction team to establish those scenarios into tangible conceptual development plans and calculate potential proformas to determine the viability and long-term financial sustainability of the proposed development scenarios.

Tipping Point will deliver the results of these scenarios to the City, which will make the final decisions on the future of this site.