Moundsville Residents Give Feedback for Comprehensive Plan
Emma Delk Trending
MOUNDSVILLE - Moundsville residents shared what progress they want to see in the city over the next ten years during the second public meeting held to collect community feedback to update the Moundsville Comprehensive Plan.
During Tuesday night's meeting led by the Moundsville Planning Commission, community members' main concerns for the plan were addressing the dilapidated buildings in the area and increasing the number of recreational opportunities in the city.
Ten community members gathered at the Strand Theatre to share their thoughts regarding the plan with Moundsville Planning Commission members and city department heads. Councilmembers and City Manager Rick Healy were also present to provide feedback on updating the plan and discuss ideas with attendees.
Former Moundsville Mayor Phil Remke first took to the microphone to share a "couple of different issues" he wanted the plan to address, including the city being "not business-friendly."
Remke noted that councilmembers had discussed building a sports complex in the area in the past. He pitched the idea of building a sports complex at the Moundsville Armory, which he noted was owned by the Marshall County Fair Board.
"When you consider the roof is in good shape, the building is big and the parking is outstanding, you've got a lot of benefits right there," Remke said. "A sports complex could bring a lot of excitement to the area."
Councilwoman Ginger DeWitt addressed the suggested location during the meeting. She said that with the armory being "as old as it is," she believed there were "probably a lot of issues" with the building's structure that would need to be addressed.
"We would just be putting money in repairs when we could be putting that money into creating a new recreation center," DeWitt said. "I like the idea of the building being newer, but if that flat roof starts leaking, it will be astronomical to fix."
Councilwoman Judy Hunt agreed with the idea of creating a recreation center, noting that the building would address the needs of the city's younger population. She added that other recreation centers in the area, such as the Highlands Sports Complex in Triadelphia, attract visitors from outside the area.
"A recreation center would keep our citizens inside our community as they would not have to look for recreational activities outside Moundsville," Hunt said. "We'd be able to keep those dollars in our community and keep activities here in the City of Moundsville, which brings more people in from the surrounding rural areas."
Moundsville resident Chris Weatherell was the second community member to take the microphone during the meeting. Her main concern she wanted the plan to address was the dilapidated and abandoned buildings in the area that had become "havens" for homeless people and drug users.
City Manager Rick Healy responded to Weatherell's concerns, noting the city has obtained grants to demolish dilapidated buildings in the area. He said the demolition processes for dilapidated buildings can often be "very lengthy" as the grants the city utilizes are "bound" by the funding agency's requirements.
"I'm not happy with the delays for demolishing buildings, but the requirements of those founding agencies bind us," Healy said. "If they say, 'It's going to be another three months until you can advertise the demolition bid,' we have to wait those three months until the funding is in place."
According to Josephine Mentzer, chairperson of the Monudsville Planning Commission, community members' concerns regarding residential housing in the area matched the data collected from the Commission's public survey for plan updates.
Mentzer said that "nearly 40%" of the more than 1,300 respondents considered residential housing the most important land use for Moundsville, which she noted included dilapidated properties in the city. The next two priorities respondents wanted the plan to address were commercial and recreational land use.
"I do feel like the city has met many of its goals regarding dilapidated properties," Mentzer added. "The city council and city employees are working hard with the building inspector's office to continue to make that a priority on their plate, and we will make it a priority in the plan for the next ten years."
Residents can complete the online public survey until Oct. 1 in addition to paper copies. Mentzer said the results from the survey and the feedback collected from the two public feedback meetings regarding the comprehensive plan would be used to draft the updated plan.
The Planning Commission will meet on Oct. 16 to review the public hearing and survey results. Mentzer said the commission "hopes" to have the updated plan in the "hands of city council" before the end of the year.