Progress is never easy — particularly when it impacts our residents and how they live.

As we noted this past weekend, the Wheeling Planning Commission’s attempt to halt business development in a properly zoned location on Mount de Chantal Road over fears of what might happen is unfair, both to the business and also to the owner of the property.

On the flip side, the area’s extraction industry — coal and natural gas — impacts many residents every day. Whether it’s sitting in traffic on Interstate 70 as a coal seam is mined below, or heavy truck traffic is traversing through a neighborhood to get to a natural gas well site, this work is impacting quality of life for folks in our area.

Just last week, an accident that has been waiting to happen for years … finally happened. A commercial truck hauling heavy equipment down Stone Church Road failed to navigate the turns at the bottom and drove and flipped into the Stone Church Cemetery. About three dozen grave markers were displaced, leaving Wheeling city workers, who are in charge of maintenance at the site, quite a mess. An investigation into just what happened there is underway, but that area has long been a source of concern, as after coming down a steep hill drivers are met with sharp turns. In this instance, something gave and while no one was injured, there is much work to do to restore the cemetery.

“Our first priority is going to be actually trying to put (the headstones) back in their proper location and get started with that and I’m sure families will be contacting me,” said Chad Long, with Wheeling’s Division of Operations. “A lot of them I wouldn’t even have records on who to call, they’re so old.”

Again, progress isn’t easy. It can impact how we live, work and play. As our area continues to evolve into the future, this is good to keep in mind.