photo by: Eric Ayres (file)

Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron speaks during a city council meeting. Herron recently explained that the city's exempt homeless camp will be relocated during the winter months.

WHEELING — The deadline for people living in Wheeling’s exempted homeless camp to move to its new temporary location passed Friday. Those who had remained at the camp Friday morning had their belongings and shelters removed, as city workers started cleaning out the area with bulldozers.

The new temporary location isn’t far from the original location by the maintenance trail along Wheeling Creek. The new location, which will be in use from November through April 15, is situated about 100 yards away where the city dog pound used to operate.

The city approved the date for this move in September and informed community leaders like Dr. William Mercer, who has worked closely with the unhoused population in his role with street medicine group Project HOPE.

Mercer said there were around 50 individuals staying at the original encampment. While most have now been moved to the new location about one hundred yards away, some left the area entirely.

Many of the unhoused individuals say they prefer the new location but moving, particularly under these circumstances, can be distressing and traumatizing for any person, Mercer said.

“Some of them weren’t quite ready,” he said.

The city moved portable restrooms over to the temporary camp today and transported water resources several days ago so that individuals who moved will be able to get their needs met at the new location, which also has newly added security cameras. The new site is smaller, however.

Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron was unavailable for comment Friday evening. In announcing the new exempted area in September, he said that agencies working with the unhoused were notified of the change and that transition to the new area could begin October 15, adding that the site near the maintenance trail would be thoroughly cleaned in the first two weeks of November.

Among the benefits to the temporary site, Herron said, was more direct sunlight to keep the site warmer during the colder months.

“It is a flat open area with easy vehicular access, which will be very helpful in inclement weather,” Herron said in September. “It will be easier to organize tents in this area as well.

“The police and fire departments have reviewed this site and agree that it is a better site for the upcoming winter months,” he said. “Sanitation and the port-a-john company will be able to service this location better, as well.”

The unhoused community will be asked to move back to the original encampment in April, which will then become exempt again from the city’s ban on camping on public property.

For now, the unhoused also will be able to sleep at night in the Life Hub’s downtown shelter at the former First English Lutheran Church. That shelter will be open from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. from now until March 15.