The Top Stories of 2020: GC&P Development Doesn’t Get the Green Light
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WHEELING -- After years of planning by the property owner and months of preparing for a public hearing by the Wheeling Planning Commission, city leaders chose not to support a proposed multi-use development on the hillside above Woodsdale.
For the greater part of 2020, the Wheeling Planning Commission was consumed by the lingering matter of GC&P Development's request for a special area plan/comprehensive plan amendment that would have permitted a change of designation of a large piece of land on Woodsdale hill, which is listed as a Conservation Development Area.
GC&P Development proposed creating a mixed-use development on more than 50 acres of hilltop off of W.Va. 88. Many residents of Woodsdale living below the hill expressed concerns about the project, and many spoke out against it, even forming a community group known as Woodsdale United which collectively championed efforts to prevent the project from coming to fruition.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the challenges surrounding this matter was holding a required public hearing on the proposal.
Changing state regulations on public gatherings and for social distancing requirements prevented the assembly of a large number of people. Public hearings on the issue were scheduled and canceled at various venues on multiple occasions throughout the year until Sept. 14, when scores of people turned out to the sprawling WesBanco Arena to voice their opinions on the proposed project while maintaining a safe social distance.
Scores of citizens turned out for the public hearing, and some even participated virtually. Many of those in attendance spoke out against the development, expressing concerns about everything from potential flooding from timbered and quarried land on the hilltop to increased truck traffic and fears that the project may not be completed after it was quarried.
Nearly an equal number of people spoke during the public hearing in support of the project and GC&P Development's efforts to bring additional housing and other developments to the area. GC&P Development LLC partners Kevin Coyne and Douglas Grayson noted that many of the resident's concerns — including those about potential flooding — were actually going to be addressed and improved as part of the development's plans, which included comprehensive stormwater management that would have likely been beneficial to the homeowners living below the hillside.
Former Wheeling City Councilwoman Wendy Scatterday, also a member of the Wheeling Planning Commission, was among the most outspoken opponents of the development. However, Scatterday chose not to seek re-election to city council and finished her term on both council and the planning commission early this summer before the public hearing and action on the request even took place.
Scatterday's successor, Ward 4 Councilman Jerry Sklavounakis, had expressed concerns over the development during his campaign and reiterated his opposition after attending the public hearing and considering all of the information about the proposal.
After weighing all of the input and several months worth of data on the matter, members of the Wheeling Planning Commission in October officially and unanimously voted to deny GC&P Development's request.
Members of the Planning Commission maintained that the developers had the right idea, but it was simply being proposed at the wrong place. Many residents of Woodsdale expressed relief that months of worries about the future of the properties as it related to the looming project finally had been heard.