Photo by Eric Ayres City leaders in Wheeling are hopeful that the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection will soon deem the environmental monitoring complete at the former industrial site along 19th Street in East Wheeling.

WHEELING – Environmental monitoring continues at the former site of the Hazel-Atlas Glass factory buildings on 19th Street in East Wheeling, where officials in the city hope to see the lingering remediation process completed in the near future.

This week, members of Wheeling City Council approved another invoice from Environmental Standards/Montrose Environmental for ongoing monitoring at the site in the amount of $12,133.50. This expense will be paid with funds from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and other sources.

The city has paid a number of invoices since 2022 for ongoing monitoring of the former industrial site. Wheeling has received a grant and funds through a revolving loan from the WVDEP by participating in the agency’s Voluntary Remediation Program to address any issues with hazardous material at the property.

“There were several monitoring wells on the site,” Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron said. “The goal is to have only two remain there.”

Herron said the wells monitor groundwater at the site, and the process checks for DNAPL (Dense Nonaqueous Phase Liquids) – contaminants that sink below the water table, creating long-term, hard-to-detect sources of pollution. DNPLs are often creosotes, chlorinated solvents, coal tars and other chemical contaminants, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. No issues regarding any hazardous materials have been reported since the site was cleared, the city manager noted.

“We’re at the tail end of remediation and monitoring, and we should have a clean bill of health letter here within the next several weeks, hopefully,” Herron said. “We’re nearing the end.”

The city acquired the property back in 2020 with the intention of cleaning up the array of vacant and dilapidated buildings that for many years stood there deteriorating. City officials noted that the decaying old industrial warehouse-style buildings were the first things motorists saw when entering the downtown area from the south end of town on W.Va. 2/U.S. 250.

Several different businesses operated at the 19th Street property over the decades, with operations dating back over a century. The Hazel-Atlas Glass factory and later the Penn-Wheeling Closure company manufactured lids and metal closures for glass containers at the site. According to Bel-O-Mar Regional Council, the location also used to house the Wheeling Hinge Company, Warren’s Chemical Works, a tannery, the City Gas Works and Electric Light Plant, and the Continental Can Company over the years.

The city purchased the property in 2020 for $150,000 from the previous owner, Americo Inc.

Nearly a half a million dollars was spent to raze the hulking buildings and remove them from the site during the demolition process that took place from 2021 to 2022. Environmental monitoring has been taking place on the property ever since then.

“This is part of the grant/loan requirements for the DEP,” Herron said of the ongoing monitoring process. “It’s been a long road.”

While the monitoring has been taking place on the now vacant property, portions of the site have been used as a lay-down yard for various equipment for projects. A subcontractor installing the new traffic signals for the West Virginia Department of Transportation’s Downtown Streetscape Project had used the site for storing equipment, but they recently wrapped up their work and have vacated the property, the city manager indicated.

During the dismantling of the Center Wheeling Parking Garage in 2024, crews from Reclaim Company LLC took concrete that was removed from the former parking structure and dumped the partially crushed material at the 19th Street site. There are piles of crushed concrete that still remain there, and the intention is to spread and compact the material in order to raise the creekside property out of the flood plain.

Herron this week said a displacement study done there was approved after it was officially determined that raising the surface of the 19th Street property out of the flood plain will not have any adverse impacts on Wheeling Creek’s downstream water flow.

Once the state DEP determines that environmental monitoring is no longer needed and the site is given a clean bill of health, city leaders intend to market the property to private companies interested in building there. This section of East Wheeling has been considered a growing area of town as several neighboring businesses have invested millions of dollars in expansions and renovations in recent years.