BECKLEY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Ongoing discussions regarding plans for Beckley’s Pinecrest Industrial Park property continued on Tuesday as members of the City of Beckley’s Common Council assembled for a Workshop meeting.
The property has been the subject of much debate since a recent ordinance conveying the property to the Raleigh County Commission received substantial pushback from members of the public, with students and staff of Woodrow Wilson High School among those imploring members of council to reconsider the conveying of the property.
This follows an appeal from Council Representative At-Large, Sherrie Hunter to allocate a portion of the property to the Raleigh County Board of Education for use by area students. City of Beckley Attorney, William File noted that these terms would not align with those presented in an understanding between Raleigh County and the City of Beckley with respect to plans for the property.
Several individuals spoke on Tuesday about the issue, including Jim Sheatsley, a city attorney involved in the proceedings. The aforementioned understanding between the city and county regarding the property has often been referenced in general and vaguely baleful terms. To this end, Mayor Neal asked what ultimately would transpire should the city fail to transfer the property to the county in a timely manner as expected.
“It’s not so much if the city fails to pass this on to county commission, it’s if the city doesn’t honor the agreement,” explained Sheatsley, referring to the terms that the property be utilized for economic development. Sheatsley made note of a previous remark from Council Representative At-Large, Sherrie Hunter, inquiring as to why the city doesn’t simply take on the economic development of the property itself.
Given the terms of the understanding, this would be a feasible option. It was reiterated during the session that the county commission would not be interested in acquiring the property should the property be divided in any way.
At this point, a key issue became the determination of what specifically constitutes “economic development” as pertaining to the terms of the agreement regarding the industrial park property.
An engineer involved in the development of the property was on hand for the Workshop session and provided some explanation as to why precisely the Pinecrest Industrial Park property has been so sought after by governing entities. This essentially comes down to the developability of the property and the ease with which progress can be made with respect to new projects.
“It’s what we call West Virginia flat. It’s easy to move, to turn around, and create paths at low cost,” said the engineer of the land on the property. “Anytime we’re doing development, we have to look at what can we generate compared to the cost of the construction. So, if I’ve got to move a mountain to build a flat pad, it’s not very feasible. It costs a lot of money. We’re moving about 100,000 yards to create 25 acres, which in West Virginia is pretty good.”
Mayor Neal pointed out that it is the job of council representatives to provide development for the city’s residents, stating, “this is our city, this is our money, we should try to grow it; that’s what our job is to do.”
The Workshop itself was primarily an exercise in ensuring that members of council were provided with sufficient information regarding the Pinecrest Industrial Park property to make an informed decision, according to Council Representative At-Large, Cody Reedy who told LOOTPRESS, “I think all of council’s questions were answered and now we should have a vote on it this coming Tuesday.”
Beckley City Council is expected to reconvene on Tuesday, October 22, 2024, for its regular bi-weekly meeting at which a decision regarding the Pinecrest property is expected to be delivered.
