Wheeling To Seek EPA Grant for Asbestos Abatement at Old Clay School
Derek Redd Trending
WHEELING -- Regardless of whether the vacant Clay School property is razed or repurposed for redevelopment in the future, officials in the city of Wheeling are seeking federal funding to help cover the considerable cost for asbestos abatement - which will need to be done regardless of which path forward is taken.
A public hearing was held this week on a proposed Brownfields cleanup grant application for the Clay school site. The city is seeking a grant of up to $500,000 needed to remediate the hulking building, which has sat vacant for decades in East Wheeling.
The city has been successful in the past in obtaining and using Brownfields environmental grants in the past for other properties. Most recently, Wheeling utilized funds from a Brownfields Assistance Program through the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection to remediate and clear the former Hazel-Atlas Glass Factory site on 19th Street in East Wheeling.
The city had acquired the property on 19th Street, which was home to deteriorating industrial buildings viewed as an eyesore at the primary southern entrance to the city from W.Va. 2. That cleanup utilized money that represented 50 percent grant funds and 50 percent revolving loan funds from the WVDEP.
Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron explained that Brownfields funding being sought for the Clay School is through a different program administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The city hired consultant Tipping Point to complete a study on scenarios for redeveloping the Clay School property. Last month, the city, Tipping Point, Wheeling Heritage, local community group the Men of Change and other stakeholders held a community block party designed to gather people from the neighborhood and the city together to help provide input and to brainstorm ideas for the site's future, an event that was well received.
"I want to thank the folks at Tipping Point, our city manager and our city admin, Wheeling Heritage and Men of Change -- particularly Ron Scott, Joe Sparksman and that group -- for participating and helping to organize the Clay School Community engagement session," said Ward 3 Councilwoman Rosemary Ketchum, who represents the East Wheeling neighborhood. "This was one of the most exciting community engagement sessions that I've been a part of."
Ketchum noted that live polling took place during the block party for the scores of people who attended the session. The information and input gathered during the event will be utilized to help Tipping Point formulate a recommendation to city council about the redevelopment of the Clay School site.
"It was really well conducted, and hopefully it will be a fruitful concept for future redevelopments," Ketchum said of the community engagement session.
Two individuals spoke during this week's public hearing on the Brownfields grant application, including Scott from Men of Change and Betsy Sweeny of Wheeling Heritage.
"As a lifelong resident and advocate of the East Wheeling community, it was almost empowering - what happened at the block party - to get an entire community to feel like they have a stake and a say in its own future, that self determination," Scott said. "It's stuff that I really haven't witnessed in a really long time. We're usually being told what's coming or what's going to happen. Never have we ever been a part of the process like this. It's a feeling that's almost electric. It was exciting and it was contagious, and I hope that it continues. I just want to give you props for starting that."
Sweeny, who urged city council to have the survey done by Tipping Point before making a decision on the school property, said Wheeling Heritage is fully behind the grant application for Brownfields funding.
"We just want to express our support for the Clay School project and thank you for engaging with us through this community process, and we're very excited to see this Brownfields grant moving forward," Sweeny told members of city council this week during the public hearing. "It's a critical first step in remediating that property. And we just wanted to express our support."
Herron indicated that the projected cost of $500,000 is an early estimate for the asbestos abatement work at the Clay School, based loosely on figures from a previous consultant's report on the building. The actual cost will be unknown until bids are received for the abatement project, and the city is not expected to put the project out to bid until officials find out whether or not the application for Brownfields grant funds is successful.
A recommendation from Tipping Point regarding the best path toward redevelopment of the Clay School property is expected to be finalized in the coming weeks, officials indicated.