photo by: Eric Ayres

Bioswales and a bus loading zone near the front of the building that formerly housed the Scott College of Cosmetology take up nearly all of the on-street parking that used to be available in the 1500 block of Market Street before the Downtown Streetscape Project reconfigured it.

WHEELING — The state’s $37 million Streetscape project has begun to wrap up along the main traffic arteries in downtown Wheeling, but not everyone was excited to see some of the finishing touches.

Market Street through the heart of downtown was recently paved and striped, causing many motorists and commuters to rejoice. After the parking stripes were put in place, however, one downtown building owner was not left celebrating the result.

Joe Mamone, owner of the building at 1500 and 1502 Market St., addressed his concerns Tuesday night before Wheeling City Council. Mamone served as director for the Scott College of Cosmetology, which operated for many years out of the building on Market Street.

“I’m currently up and renovating the building,” Mamone told city leaders Tuesday night. “I have a four-chair hair salon in the building on the first floor. I’m renovating 3,500 square feet.”

Mamone had big plans for the revitalized building and had been gaining traction to bring new tenants to this downtown location, but after the on-street parking lines were painted on the newly paved street, the Streetscape seemed to bring more cosmetic improvements than functional ones to the former cosmetology school building.

“I had a bakery and ice cream business coming,” Mamone told city leaders. “I have also intended to do some sandwiches. I’ve been in the process with the city for the things it takes to get that operating. And two weeks ago, I come in after work to do some work, and I see that once the paving was done and the parking has been laid out — and this does not include the flower beds, I knew those were going to be gone in the drawings — I’ve lost 15 parking spots in the 1500 block of Market Street.”

Mamone said large bioswales with plants and landscaped greenery could be seen as part of the design of the new Streetscape. However, large bus loading areas, no parking areas across the street and three large bioswales outside of his business location consume almost all of the available space for parking close to his building.

“I’ve tried every contact I know to try to get it resolved,” he said. “This is kind of a last-ditch effort for me.”

The city of Wheeling is not in charge of the Downtown Streetscape Project. It is an investment being overseen by the West Virginia Division of Highways and being constructed by its general contractor, Triton Construction Inc. of St. Albans, W.Va.

Much of the Streetscape work that remains has made its way further east on 16th Street and on to nearby portions of Chapline Street near the ramp to W.Va. 2. The Streetscape project, after years of construction, is expected to wrap up as soon as next month.

“The bakery and the ice cream store have backed out because there is nowhere to park,” Mamone said. “There are 15 spots that are gone. I now have three spots, and one of those is handicapped. It’s devastating to my building.”

According to Mamone, finding tenants has been challenging because of the new lack of nearby on-street parking.

“It’s almost impossible,” he said. “On the second floor, I have six office spaces that will be for lease with a very nice conference room, and I don’t know how marketable any of that is going to be if there’s no parking. I don’t know if we can come to some kind of opportunity to take a look at it or make some changes.”

The stretch of Market Street in front of Mamone’s building is the only one in the entire downtown area where the Streetscape has brought improvements that seems to have this issue, he said.

“I have walked the entire downtown, and the 1500 block of Market Street is the only place that has lost 15 spots,” Mamone said. “I know there have been some eliminated throughout downtown, but it’s really devastated that block, and I’m the only business there that does not have off-street parking.”

Over the past two years, the Downtown Streetscape Project has brought new paving, sidewalks, curbs, crosswalks, traffic signals, storm water management, landscaping, benches and other major renovations throughout downtown Wheeling.

In other action Tuesday night, a representative of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Disaster Recovery Division came to speak before Wheeling City Council to remind residents and business owners who were impacted by the disastrous Father’s Day flooding in June that the deadline to seek in-person assistance is Monday, Sept. 22.

Both the SBA and Federal Emergency Management Agency will have representatives available for assistance at the Community Center in Triadelphia until the deadline is reached. The June 14 flood, which claimed nine lives and destroyed scores of properties along Little Wheeling Creek, resulted in a federal disaster declaration being issued by President Donald Trump, opening the door to emergency aid and financial support for those impacted by the devastation.