photo by: Eric Ayres

Wheeling Building and Planning Director Brenda J. Delbert and City Councilman Ben Seidler attend a meeting of the Wheeling Planning Commission this past week.

WHEELING — Officials in the city of Wheeling are expected to consider updating current city zoning codes after recent opportunities to develop vacant properties have been either challenged or derailed altogether, leaving frustrated city planning commission members feeling that their hands are simply tied in certain situations.

City leaders are looking to find a balance between maintaining the character of residential neighborhoods while still allowing opportunities for economic growth. Recent meetings of the Wheeling Planning Commission have put the city’s planning and zoning restrictions in question, as residents have contested proposals that threatened to bring commercial traffic to their neighborhoods.

Members of the planning commission this past week suggested a significant review of the city’s zoning ordinance is needed.

In fact, the city’s recently adopted 10-year Comprehensive Plan – Wheeling Forward 2034 – strongly recommends a citywide zoning and building code update.

“I would advocate for a full review,” said Wheeling Building and Planning Director Brenda J. Delbert. “There are a lot of things that tie a lot of hands.”

Officials said the matter will be brought to Wheeling City Council, which would need to take action if ordinances were to be tweaked or revised altogether.

The most recent dilemma came this past week when local property owner Tom Tuttle came before the Wheeling Planning Commission to request a zone change for 1154 National Road from R1B Single-Family Residential to C2 – General Commercial. The property houses the former Edgwood Evangelical Lutheran Church, which Tuttle acquired after the congregation relocated to Bethlehem in 2016.

Several residents came out to speak in opposition of the zone change request, noting that assigning a C2 zoning designation to the property would open it up to pretty much any future commercial use. Many people living in the neighborhood argued that the city needed to maintain the integrity of the clearly defined residential zone.

However, properties on every other adjacent corner along National Road are already zoned as C2 and have local businesses operating out of them, including some boutiques and small shops.

Tuttle explained that he has no interest in investing in the church building without knowing that there can be a future use for it. Its zoning is Single-Family Residential, but no single family could feasibly afford utility costs of a big church building, even if the interior was remodeled for residential use. If Tuttle wanted to tear the 107-year-old building down, he would have to get approval from the Historic Landmarks Commission first.

When in operation, the church was basically “grandfathered” into the residential neighborhood. It operated under a “continuation of a non-conforming use,” but after the congregation relocated and the building was not used as a church, after six months, the property reverted back to an R1B – Single Family Residential parcel. So the property could not even be used as a church at this point.

“I’ve owned this building for what? Ten years?” Tuttle asked. “I’m not in any hurry. But I would like to move forward. Look, I’m part of this community, too. I want Wheeling to grow. I want it to develop. We’re on National Road. Let’s be something.”

Tuttle noted that during last year’s mayoral race in Wheeling, candidate Carl Carpenter had suggested that the people of the city – after enduring decades of population loss – should stop yearning for a return to Wheeling’s bustling past and start embracing the comfort of the community’s current size.

“We had somebody run for mayor who said we’re no longer a big town. I get that,” Tuttle said. “But that doesn’t mean that we just have to shrivel up and die.”

Tuttle said he intended to continue being a good neighbor and that he respected the residents’ desire to live in a safe and comfortable neighborhood.

“I think everybody here wants to maintain the feeling of the community. I just want Wheeling to be a better place, that’s all,” he said.

But without a path forward for Tuttle’s property on National Road, the old church building that has sat vacant for a decade will deteriorate and eventually become an eyesore. Officials said they doubted if anyone would mind if a small restaurant, hair salon or boutique occupied the church, but changing the zoning to C2 would open the door to many other undesirable options in the future.

In 2019, there was an effort to change the zoning of that property to EMO – Educational, Medical and Office use district – to construct a new bank branch with a 24-hour drive-thru facility at that site to serve the Woodsdale-Edgwood area. Residents opposed that measure, too, and a petition with more than 100 signatures was presented to the planning commission, which denied the zone change request.

That new Unified Bank branch is now under construction in an area further west on National Road in Woodsdale, and today, the church remains vacant – aside from an occasional use in the lower level kitchen as commissary by food truck operators set up in the church parking lot.

“We’ve got to find a solution here,” said Wheeling City Councilman Ben Seidler, a member of the planning commission. “At the end of the day – whether it’s Mr. Tuttle or not – you can’t just have a church that’s just going to sit there and rot and do nothing when the guy can’t do anything with it. And we all agree that we don’t want an Arby’s or a Sheetz there.”

Planning commission member Howard Monroe noted that the C2 zoning designation creates a Pandora’s box of possibilities. There exists in the city code a C1 – Neighborhood Commercial zoning designation that is more restrictive, but officials indicated that no other neighboring parcel carries this zoning classification. Changing the property to C1 would be considered “spot zoning,” which is generally viewed as an undesirable practice in city planning that typically goes against a municipality’s Comprehensive Plan.

“I believe Mr. Tuttle is as sincere as you can possibly get, and I think he’s in a tough spot because he’s got a piece of property that’s hard to deal with at this point in time,” Monroe said. “But here’s the point: it doesn’t make any difference what Mr. Tuttle wants. It doesn’t make any difference what ideas we think would be great. But once we change the zone to C2, it opens it up to anything short of industrial, and that’s the problem.”

The Comprehensive Plan

Last year, the city updated its Comprehensive Plan, as required every 10 years by all West Virginia municipalities under state law. The plan serves as a guide that lays the framework for land use regulations and helps steer growth and development in the city under a strategic and thoroughly scrutinized strategy. The Comprehensive Plan focuses on revitalization and reinvestment in public spaces, business districts and neighborhoods.

According to the 148-page Wheeling Forward 2034, the city’s current planning and zoning ordinance was written in 2001, although it has been amended several times since then. The plan recommends a strategic approach to revising or rewriting the ordinance, following the Comprehensive Plan’s vision and future land use map.

“The city of Wheeling can revise regulations to govern land use, building design and construction standards that facilitate growth while maintaining safety and community standards,” the plan noted. “Create a clear process for the preservation of underutilized properties. Develop guidelines and incentives for the adaptive reuse of vacant or underutilized properties. Streamline the approval process for rehabilitation projects to encourage revitalization. Prioritize the preservation of properties that align with long-term city development goals.”

Recommendations from the plan also include the development of “robust mixed use districts” that align with the current and future needs of existing residents, businesses and institutions, while encouraging new residents and businesses to move to Wheeling. It also suggests that the city should leverage a land bank to focus on acquiring problematic properties, clearing titles and preparing sites for redevelopment.

Re-examining the Zoning Ordinance

The Wheeling Planning Commission earlier this spring was criticized for its reluctance to accommodate private investment along a vacant parcel of property on Mount de Chantal Road in Clator. Commissioners expressed concerns about increased traffic in the already busy area near WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital. However, the property in question was already zoned C2.

Members of the planning commission eventually granted site plan approval for the development of a new, expanded location for the Eye Care Center of Wheeling on the strip of property between Mount de Chantal Road and Wheeling Heritage Trail near Interstate 70. However, the panel denied the site plan for a new Wash-Rite Express Car Wash on an adjacent parcel of property there. Representatives of the car wash are expected to return to the planning commission in the near future for what will be at least a third effort to bring their business to that area.

The property in Clator is another example of C2 zoning can accommodate businesses that complement a neighboring residential area while also allowing businesses that could be more disruptive and have the potential of bringing more traffic to the area.

City officials indicated that current zoning codes do not allow enough flexibility for mixed uses – an approach that the Comprehensive Plan encourages and an avenue of hope for the future that the former church building on National Road would need.

“This is not the only place where we struggle with this issue,” Seidler said. “We clearly have a gap here that we need to address. The News-Register has been very clear to point out to us recently that we need to look at a little bit broader things so that we’re not anti-business – and we’re not. We’re pro-neighborhood and pro-business. We’ve got to find that balance.”

Fellow planning commission member Christina Schessler added, “Some of the best places to live have both. And it’s usually an historic area. Somehow they’ve worked it out.”

Monroe suggested that it was time for the city to not only revisit the entire zoning ordinance but also to look at the possibility of creating a new zoning district.

“Do we need something that is in between one or another that doesn’t make it spot zoning?” Monroe asked. “I think it’s time for a bigger revisit. We’re opening up a really big question here, and I think it’s something that we’re going to wrestle with more and more frequently.”

Planning commission members requested that city staff present options for updating zoning categories in light of the Comprehensive Plan and to make recommendations for Wheeling City Council to move forward. Delbert noted that revising the city zoning code would take time and would involve public hearings and other required steps.

“It’s a process,” Delbert said. “If I’m being completely honest, it’s probably a year to 18-month process. It’s not anything that is taken lightly. Land use is very protected.”

Planning Commission members agreed that this is a necessary measure.

“I think we should do it,” Monroe said.