CHARLESTON, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Members of the West Virginia Legislature convened Sunday as Interim Sessions got underway with meetings of the Joint Legislative Committee on Flooding, Joint Standing Committee on Education, Post Audits Subcommittee, and Joint Committee on Economic Development and Tourism.
The Joint Committee on Economic Development and Tourism came together Sunday afternoon to hear presentations on a number of issues, including dilapidated properties in West Virginia.
The City of Nitro was reported to be the top recipient of REAP funding to go toward dilapidated properties. The city is a reported municipal outlier in that the city itself had ownership of the buildings during the early planning stages.
This came about as a result of the city’s observation that the buildings were simply being maintained as dilapidated properties through the systematic payment of abandoned building fees. As such, the City of Nitro took it upon itself to purchase the properties for rehabilitation or demolition.
Representatives for the city reported a 39% decrease in law enforcement calls since the demolition of buildings in the city’s downtown area. The city also stated that drone technology is being utilized for providing clear before-and-after images of these sits.
Though many of the properties have now become vacant lots, underground infrastructure will reportedly be required before any type of sales can be implemented.
The Department of Economic Development also provided updates to the committee, reporting 6 billion dollars invested toward economic growth throughout the state. 125,000 jobs were reportedly created over the past 30 months with 15% GDP growth.
Factors to be considered in this economic growth are said to include the central location of the state itself, low cost of living, energy resources, low cost of business operations, lower turnover for manufacturing jobs, lower health care costs, and the willingness of residents to travel for jobs.
Additional LOOTPRESS coverage for the Kanawha County area can be found here.