Wheeling Councilman Dave Palmer wishes for city residents to understand the amount of work that has been performed while identifying the best location for a new, $14.5 million public safety building for the police and fire departments.
Palmer and his colleagues on Wheeling Council, along with the mayor, will hear the first reading of an ordinance tomorrow during the regular meeting beginning at noon that would authorize City Manager Bob Herron to move forward with the process of purchasing a three-acre property on the corner of 19th and Jacob streets in Wheeling.
“I think people are struggling to understand the need for this facility and the amount of space we need to build a public safety building,” said the Ward 6 representative who is a retired first responder. “I also think they are struggling to understand that we have looked at numerous places for this project, and that includes price estimates, and that this location comes back as the most cost effective of them all.
“We have even looked at splitting the two departments as an option, but the cost of the properties is outrageous,” he continued. “I just don’t think people are grasping that we are looking, and we have looked at a lot of different options, and we’ll continue to look until we have a done deal because that’s how great the need is. The people are not giving us a fair shake even though we are doing our due diligence.”
The Sunday News-Register reported yesterday Herron has negotiated a deal with property owner Frank Calabrese to purchase the property for $345,000 if the city is successful in gaining a brownfield grant from the federal government. Calabrese, also a member of the city’s Human Rights Commission, would receive $150,000, and another $195,000 would be placed in escrow while awaiting word on the grant application.
If the grant is not approved, the city would retain the $195,000 and utilize the monies as part of the funds needed to remediate the industrial, dilapidated property where a few brick buildings still stand. In additional to the environment clean-up, about 50 percent of the three-acre property will need raised by eight feet to bring the proposed one-story out of the flood plain.
The initial as-is offer from Calabrese demanded $534,000.
“The cost for the cleanup is the great unknown, and there’s a chance it could be (expensive), but by all indications it will fall under the loan amount,” Palmer said. “We are applying for the grant from the federal government, and we all know that’s not a sure thing, but brownfield cleanup is big target for the federal government because of how so many businesses across the county operated for long periods of time without taking precautions as far as the environment is concerned.
“There are many areas in the city of Wheeling that would need a brownfield clean-up, too, just like the area where LaBelle was for so many years. Before the new housing could be constructed, they had to clean up those acres,” the councilman said. “I can’t put an exact dollar amount on it until we actually get into it and identify exactly what kind of work needs performed for the area to be completely safe for our employees.”
It was Ward 1 Councilman Chad Thalman who made mention of a public safety building nearly two years ago during a Project Best event, and since then Mayor Glenn Elliott has spearheaded efforts to fund such a facility. Initially, council placed a bond referendum on the ballot in November 2018 that would have increased taxes for property owners. Per state code, council needed a 60 percent majority to approve the move but attracted only 53.8 percent.
Council then voted in favor of implementing a $2 per-week employment tax or User Fee on all employees within the city of Wheeling with the funds split evenly for the public safety building and infrastructure needs.
“The voters turned down a different proposal meant for the corner of Market and 10th streets that would have cost about $20 million. We went back to the drawing board, cut $6 million from the project, worked on finding the best possible location, and we have identified a new funding source,” Palmer explained. “We felt that is what the voters wanted us to do, so we’ve have worked very hard doing just that because of the need these departments have and have had for a lot of years.”
If the ordinance authorizing the property purchase moves forward, the agreement would have 90 days to be completed, and the escrow funds would remain in place for as long as 18 months.
“I believe that, at this time, we have identified the best possible option for our taxpayers,” he said. “The location definitely has the space that is necessary, and the maximum price the city could pay to the property owner is nearly $200,000 less than the asking price. Again, at this time, it’s the best deal for the taxpayer.
“From this point, we can only move at a pace this project allows because there are a lot of different moving parts that include funding, the environmental work, and the raising of a part of the property so the building isn’t constructed in the flood plain,” he added. “The first time funding from the User Fee will be available to us is April 2020, so this project is going to take some time just as it has to get us to this point.”
