Apr. 25—MORGANTOWN — Morgantown’s Land Reuse and Preservation Agency wants direction and support from city hall.
It’s a theme that has been running through LRPA meetings for months now.
It continued this week when members contrasted their volunteer efforts with land reuse initiatives underway in the city of Charleston.
Charleston Planner John Butterworth said the land reuse agency in the capital city is well on its way to surpassing a series of goals laid out in Mayor Amy Goodwin’s state of the city address back in 2023.
Goodwin tasked the agency to take efforts to get five single-family homes renovated in existing neighborhoods ; get 25 new single-family homes built, and return 15 vacant lots back into the hands of city residents and property owners by the end of the year.
To accomplish those efforts and others, Charleston has provided the agency a total of $2.35 million spread across three one-time allocations since its inception in 2019. A portion of those funds was used to create programs specific to the desired outcomes.
Further, Charleston’s city administration plays a direct role in the agency as the mayor, city manager and two members of city council participate as voting members alongside volunteer citizens ; all supported by a number of city officials—city attorney, planning director, grant coordinator—participating as ex-officio members.
Butterworth said that without an active land reuse agency, problem properties are rarely addressed beyond razing dilapidated structures. Further, he said the purpose of land reuse agencies isn’t to make money in the short term, but to return long-dead properties to productivity—even if that means handing lots over to a neighboring property owner who will mow and pay taxes.
“We weren’t doing much until the land reuse agency was established to sort of close that loop and return property to productive reuse. Getting rid of a dangerous and burned-out house is a super good thing and we know it needs to happen, but how do we actually use that property now as an asset to spark redevelopment, rather than just having it sit there being something we have to mow and pick trash off of because it’s still abandoned ?”
Lest you believe robust land reuse efforts are only possible in West Virginia’s largest city, Nitro Planner Kim Reed explained in January that her agency took a $1 million allocation from the city specifically to create and implement what’s become a successful long-term plan to address commercial property.
Nitro is a city of 6, 500 residents.
Following the presentation from Butterworth, LRPA members measured their role against the one described in Charleston.
“They have some factors there that we don’t have, ” Michael Mills said.
“Primarily, ” Tim Stranko added, “the elected mayor gave them objective criteria, so they have focus … My suggestion is we make our own goals ; measurable goals.”
But the city did give the LRPA money—$600, 000 from the American Rescue Plan Act—with the specific direction to use it to address dilapidated sections of lower Greenmont.
That money, LRPA Chair Jessica McDonald explained, has been spent or otherwise obligated in the effort, but there are additional resources needed to create the contiguous tracts desired to entice development.
In recent months, agency members have expressed frustration with a lack of clear answers from the city on a number of topics including the Greenmont project, potential funding sources and vacant city-owned parcels, among others.
“I just want us all to come together here. I felt like what he said there was that they have political support, ” McDonald said of Charleston.