GC&P Development Timeline On Track; Traffic Study Underway
Trending
WHEELING -- Information regarding a "mixed-use village" on a Woodsdale hilltop is coming along on schedule, as the Wheeling Planning Commission learned Monday.
Michael Hooper, counsel for GC&P Development LLC, told the commission that the most time-consuming part of gathering the needed information -- a traffic study -- is underway, and all information likely will be ready to present to the commission in March, ahead of the April meeting, for further discussion.
"We remain on schedule for the mid-March submissions that we represented at the December meeting of this body," Hooper said. "From that standpoint, I can say that the traffic study has been approved by the West Virginia (Division of Highways). … The traffic impact study was the one that was going to take the most time, the work that was needing to be done in terms of counting the cars, defining the scope -- that's underway at this point.
"We feel very comfortable that we will be able to make the mid-March submissions," he added. "… I've been told by the experts that mid-March was their timeframe."
The company aims to create a 50- to 55-acre development on the hilltop with commercial, residential, office and institutional space as well as to improve the W.Va. 88 "corridor" near the site. The proposed village would include retail shops, office space, a grocery store, a movie theater and residential areas with townhouses and assisted living facilities. The site is to be located along W.Va. 88 north of the Woodsdale neighborhood of Wheeling. The DOH sent the city a letter stating that the W.Va. 88 improvement project appears to be feasible, but a traffic impact study needs to be conducted for the DOH to make a full determination, Tom Connelly, Wheeling assistant director of economic and community development, previously said.
The commission continued the matter until the information is forthcoming, most likely until its April 6 meeting. Based on the scope of the project, commissioners debated the possibility of needing to hold public comment for the development in another location, if a large number of residents came to voice their opinions.
"This room will get very crowded," added City Solicitor Rosemary Humway-Warmuth.
Commissioner Howard Monroe mentioned the possibility of letting the matter continue until May, to ensure ample time to review the information provided by GC&P Development.
"What I want is time to review the information once it comes in, if we don't get it until mid-March, but we can discuss that at our next meeting," he said.
Commissioner Wendy Scatterday, however, asked the commissioners to skew toward a more decisive pace, for the sake of those living in Woodsdale who have gone months without an answer as to what their neighborhood's future holds.
"I would like to interject on behalf of the residents, who are still experiencing a lot of uncertainty," said Scatterday, who also serves as councilwoman for Wheeling's 4th Ward, which includes the proposed site. "The timeframe has lingered here, and I would like to encourage us that, within 30 days upon receipt of the materials we'll be provided. We all definitely want time to review, but I think 30 days is plenty of time to review what's submitted. Whatever date is decided on for the submission, and then the subsequent period, that 30-day marker. … If we call it March 15, then 30 days would be April 15 or thereabouts. I really would like to encourage that we do continue on a timeframe that doesn't just keep pushing this longer and longer, for the sake of the residents who continue to have a great uncertainty about their own state of affairs.
"They're in limbo right now. As this goes on, their limbo goes on. This started in August, this is now almost a year, going into May."
The next committee meeting will be March 2.