Tents, personal items, trash and debris are left behind at the former site of Wheeling’s exempted homeless encampment along the Maintenance Trail near Wheeling Creek. The site was closed down and cleared this week. (Photo Provided)

WHEELING — The condition of the site where Wheeling’s homeless encampment was located until its closure earlier this week was described by city leaders as a “hellhole,” and its cleanup came at a significant price.

The Wheeling City Manager’s Office officially announced in a statement late this week that, “There is no intention of creating another public area exempt from the public property camping ban ordinance.”

City officials stuck by a strict deadline when notice was posted that the camp on Industrial Drive would be closed on the evening of Dec. 1. Cleanup began the next morning this past Tuesday.

According to information from the City Manager’s Office, a total of $41,350 will be drawn from municipal funds to cover the work completed at the site on Tuesday and Wednesday.

While city council members heard criticism from some who viewed the closing of the homeless encampment at the beginning of the winter season as a “lack of compassion” from the city, officials noted that they got a first-hand understanding about the condition of the site, and the magnitude of the cleanup reemphasized their stance that the camp had become unlivable for anyone — including the unhoused individuals who had been staying there.

“It was an absolute mess,” City Manager Robert Herron said this week in the wake of the cleanup, noting that despite the fact that dumpsters were made available at the camp, they were obviously not being used. “There were literally hundreds of bicycle wheels left behind, and just stuff strewn about everywhere – all of which was done by the occupants. Nobody went in there and did that. They did it all themselves.”

The area had been under surveillance with a number of video cameras mounted around the camp. Officials observed the condition of the camp and saw things worsen month after month until city leaders agreed that it simply needed to be closed.

“We had been watching the deterioration over the last several months,” Herron said.

At week’s end, the city shared aerial drone photos of the site that showed the condition of the property just before cleanup. City crews have cleaned several homeless encampment sites in the past, so they were familiar with the magnitude of property left behind and litter that often accumulates, Herron noted. Some areas were difficult to access as trash and debris was overflowing from the camp over the wooded hillside above Wheeling Creek.

On Tuesday just before crews initiated the cleanup, Wheeling Police checked the area from about 10 a.m. to about 11:30 a.m. to make sure all of the occupants were out before heaving equipment was brought in to clear the site.

During the cleanup, it was discovered that not only were residents of the camp not using the available dumpsters at the site, some were not using the portable toilets that were also made available there.

“One of those tents had a bathroom in it that they had built that had a ditch going right down into the creek,” Herron said. “The porta-johns were destroyed to the point where we had to pay for them. Those porta-johns will never be used again.”

Some items at the camp had to be removed before clearing began, the city manager explained.

“There were over 20 propane tanks and over 20 gasoline containers,” Herron said. “They had to be separated out.”

City personnel also had to make sure pets and stray animals were removed from the site before demolition commenced.

“There were seven cats that were taken by animal control on Tuesday,” Herron said.

A number of dogs had also lived at the site when the homeless camp was there, and officials assumed they were taken by residents of the camp when they vacated. Herron said there were no dogs remaining at the camp at the time of the cleanup Tuesday.

Removal of all of the tents and leftover items and debris the site was done mechanically so as to not put city crews at risk of potentially harmful items that could be encountered if cleaning by hand.

“We had the roll-offs sitting out there for about 10 days in anticipation of the closing date,” Herron said.

City personnel from the Operations, Water Pollution Control and Sanitary departments manned the cleanup operation, with two private contractors assisting to haul the large roll-off dumpsters away. The roll-offs were filled, taken off site to the dump and taken back to the camp to be refilled several times.

“It was in excess of around 33 full loads in the roll-offs,” Herron estimated.

The cleanup Tuesday morning came in the aftermath of the first major snowfall of the season, with as much as five inches of snow accumulated by dawn in many areas. Herron said the Operations personnel made snow removal their first priority.

“We made sure there was no compromising of snow plowing,” he said. “That’s why Water Pollution Control was active. For Operations, first and foremost was snow removal from the streets.”

The city of Wheeling enacted an ordinance prohibiting camping on public property in November of 2023, and in early 2024, the City Manager’s Office established an exempted area where unhoused individuals in the city could camp legally. That site above Wheeling Creek along what is known as the Maintenance Trail was relocated several hundred yards to the west in November of 2024.

Since then, the exempted camp operated on city property along the Maintenance Trail on Industrial Drive near the entrance to the Peninsula Cemetery.

“Over time, numerous problems have occurred at the exempted area, and public funds have been, on several occasions, used to clean up the area,” the Wheeling City Manager’s Office noted in a statement issued late this week. “Unsanitary and dangerous conditions were created within the area by the people occupying the exempted area.”

The presence of the homeless encampment caused many issues for business owners and residents in the nearby East Wheeling and Fulton neighborhoods, officials noted.

“In addition to the unsanitary conditions created by its occupants, this exempted area was the source of numerous citizen complaints, public concerns and criminal activity expressed by nearby residents and businesses,” city leaders stated. “These issues were documented by various city departments. It was abundantly clear that an exempted camping area was not working and was posing a threat to the occupants, citizens nearby and the public in general.”

Local organizations that serve the Wheeling area homeless population – including the YWCA, Catholic Charities, Street MOMs, the Wheeling Housing Authority, the Continuum of Care West Virginia and The Life Hub were issued notice on Oct. 22 that the city planned to close down the encampment. Notices were also posted at the camp.

After it was announced that the city planned to close down the homeless camp, officials from The Life Hub and the Salvation Army of Wheeling collaborated to re-open 30 beds at the Salvation Army’s 16th Street facility that had closed earlier this year because of a lack of funding. The city of Wheeling provided $75,000 to help The Life Hub staff a new nightly women’s shelter at the Salvation Army location beginning this week. That facility is expected to operate at least for the next six months.

“The city of Wheeling supported the creation of The Life Hub and continues to back its work,” the statement from the City Manager’s Office noted.

At the former homeless camp site, the property has been cleared and the gate is locked. There are no trespassing signs at the entrance to the location, which is used by city crews as a lay-down yard for cinder piles and storage of other items used by Wheeling Public Works departments.