A local credit union filed the one and only variance request to the city of Wheeling’s former three-story mandate for new construction in downtown, but the potential project was taken off the table once the COVID-19 pandemic began.
According to Wheeling City Manager Bob Herron, officials with the credit union requested permission to move forward with building a one-story structure along Chapline Street, but the proposal was rejected by the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals.
“Someone did apply for a variance to the three-story mandate, but no one has applied for a variance to the two-story mandate once it changed earlier this year,” reported Herron. “The variance, when applied for when the construction mandate was for three stories, was rejected by the Zoning Board of Appeals.
“A variance was re-applied for, but then the ordinance was changed, and that application was withdrawn because of that change,” he continued. “At that time, they wanted to build a two-story building, so there was no need to apply for the variance. Although that proposal was then approved, the building has not been built by a community credit union on Chapline Street near the Federal Building.”
Two Too Many
Wheeling Council approved the three-story mandate in mid-2017 for the vacant lots located between 10th and 16th streets and Main to Chapline streets. At the time, only two one-story buildings were located within that area, including the 7/Eleven on Market Street and the former Mountain Mama’s building near the corner of 14th and Main streets.
The Health Plan’s headquarters in the 1100 block is the newest structure in Wheeling’s downtown, and prior to that project Boury Enterprises built the Boury Center at 1233 Main St. in 1986. The structure is now known as Century Plaza.
“Initially, the folks from the credit union wanted to do a one-story structure, and that was rejected, but then going through that process, they had communicated to us that they had a tenant for a second story,” Herron explained. “The Zoning Board of Appeals at that time rejected the one-story proposal, but then a very short time later there was the change to the ordinance that took place.
“But that project is not moving forward now because the pandemic hit,” he said. “COVID-19 has had an economic impact across the country and the world, and the city of Wheeling is no different. Whether or not that project returns to the table after the pandemic is an unknown at this time.”
