Wheeling Inn Public Nuisance Hearing Not Expected Any Time Soon
Eric Ayres WHEELING - The future of the Wheeling Inn remains in limbo, as city leaders have maintained that the ball currently is in the property owner’s court to request a hearing on the action city council took many months ago to have the hotel property declared a public nuisance.
A public hearing on the matter is not expected to take place anytime in the near future, according to hotel manager Anand Patel. Meanwhile, negotiations to sell the hotel have been taking place, according to Patel, who said it is unclear what may happen to the nuisance complaint if the property is sold before a hearing takes place.
While city leaders have been urged to move forward with a resolution to the situation at the Wheeling Inn, Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron has stated that it is up to the hotel’s representatives to request a public hearing.
"On Oct. 28, the city asked the property owner for possible dates for a public hearing," Herron said this week, noting that city officials were following up on the previous continuances. "The property owner responded on Oct. 31 that they were working on matters associated with the property which could take through the end of the year."
Action by a majority of Wheeling City Council members to declare the property a public nuisance was handed down in May after a recommendation by the city manager was forwarded to council. The recommendation was based on a report submitted by Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger outlining a list of criminal activities and calls for service to the area of the Wheeling Inn on Main Street near the primary entrance to the city’s downtown from Interstate 70.
Scheduling of a public hearing on the matter was delayed on a number of occasions throughout the summer. A more recent delay in the fall came on the heels of a request from Patel to continue the public hearing to allow city staff more time to provide him with information he requested through various Freedom of Information Act submissions.
A number of Patel’s FOIA requests were initially denied because they are related to ongoing criminal investigations, according to city leaders, who have otherwise maintained that all of the requests have been met. Patel has maintained that the number of incidents outlined in the police memorandum about the Wheeling Inn have been inflated, describing it as a "fabricated report."
Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott has recused himself from all matters related to the Wheeling Inn situation in light of the fact that Patel is a longtime personal friend of his. Vice Mayor Chad Thalman did not recuse himself from the spring vote, however, but was the only member of council to vote against the resolution declaring the Wheeling Inn a public nuisance.
"Following Wheeling City Council's 5-1 vote, I knew that the only way for me to get those five politicians to publicly admit that they made a mistake is to publicly show them that by not doing their own due diligence, they were manipulated by perception and a manufactured report," Patel said this week, noting that he intends to gather all of the public information that he can regarding the police reports to help him clearly demonstrate his case. "This is the information I need to fight a fabricated report at a public hearing. How exactly did the Wheeling Police Department run up the numbers? Why were disorderly adults from one incident across town being directly escorted to the Wheeling Inn only to be arrested there a few days later?"
The Wheeling Inn manager had noted earlier this year that 39 incident reports he requested from the city had been denied because they were related to "ongoing criminal investigations."
Patel himself still has an outstanding criminal case against him related to a police investigation into criminal activity at the Wheeling Inn, which is also known as the Knights Inn of Wheeling. A 30-day probe into activity at the hotel in July 2021 dubbed "Operation Knighthawk" by police resulted in 27 arrests and citations, the execution of seven search warrants and the seizure of illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia.
Results of this vice operation were part of the report submitted in conjunction with the city administration’s request to have the Wheeling Inn declared a public nuisance. A number of the call records listed in the report that led to the nuisance complaint were simply traffic stops that occurred on Main Street in front of the hotel, according to Patel.
"As of today, I do not foresee a public hearing until March or April of (2023)," Patel said. "Following the city’s request to continue our first scheduled public hearing, I realized that the only inkling of due process I have been afforded has been time, and that time allowed me to investigate Chief Schwartzfeger’s manufactured report, which in turn has resulted in more questions needing to be answered."
Patel said his criminal case - which has also been delayed a number of times - is now scheduled for trial in February.
"To that end, it is my hope that once my case is resolved, I will finally have access to the information I need in order to be fully prepared for a public hearing," he said.
While the operation of the Wheeling Inn has been suspended pending the outcome of a still looming public hearing, the parking lot of the hotel has been a hub of activity over the past several weeks from construction crews working along Main Street. The general contractor for the state of West Virginia’s $32 million Downtown Streetscape Project in Wheeling, Triton Construction Inc. of St. Albans, began working on the long-awaited project this fall.
Patel said the company approached him to get permission to use part of the hotel lot as a staging area while working at that end of Main Street. Since then, a mobile work site office, heavy equipment, construction materials and various commerce associated with the Streetscape construction have been a common site in the hotel parking lot.
"With respect to Triton, several months ago they reached out to me to inquire about renting a portion of our parking lot on a month-to-month basis," Patel said. "It was a win-win as they needed a place to quickly mobilize, and we were able to bring in some revenue."
Patel indicated that the lease helps with some expenses at the property, however there has not been regular revenue from the hotel for several months. He noted that action to sell the hotel property altogether is not out of the question.
"Over the past several months, I have been in discussions about the possibility of selling our properties, and I am unsure how a public nuisance process will play out should that transpire," he said.
This week, the city manager indicated that the problems that led to the nuisance incidents have ceased because the hotel is currently not operating.
"From the city's perspective, the nuisance has been abated as long as the property is closed for the original reason of the declaration," Herron said.
In past cases involving public nuisance actions in the city at other locations with other owners, there have been various reasons that a public hearing has been delayed by a property owner. Some have taken action to make physical upgrades at their properties, implement new management teams, change hours of operation, initiate different business models or take other steps to bring about improvements.
According to Herron, these past actions have been taken "all in an effort to compromise, improve the situation and to avoid a permanent declaration.
"But it is up to the property owner to make such proposals if they so choose," Herron said. "Also, any declaration is for the use that has caused the nuisance. It doesn't prevent a property owner from utilizing their property for another use."