With a decision looming concerning the future of the former Ohio Valley Medical Center campus, members of Wheeling’s City Council also must decide how to proceed with a three-acre property along 19th Street in East Wheeling.
The parcel has been environmentally investigated for the possible construction of a public safety building for the city’s police and fire departments, but that project could be altered if Council votes in favor of acquiring the OVMC property. One option, according to City Manager Bob Herron, is for Council to acquire both properties for future economic development.
“That is a decision for the members of City Council to make,” Herron said. “Based on the information that we have received and the fact that we know everything about the three acres as far as the asbestos, the demolition that would be required to clear the site, and what it would take to raise a portion of the property out of the flood plain, there is the possibility that City Council would consider acquiring the property for future development.
“It does need cleaned up, but there are about three acres there with access to full utilities,” he said. “So, purchasing it for future development is an option, and that’s a decision for the local elected officials to make.”
Industrial Land
The East Wheeling property once was home to industry but has sat silent for more than two decades after a manufacturing operation closed. The property owner initially requested $534,000, but Herron was able to negotiate a two-prong agreement that calls for a $150,000 payment with another $195,000 being placed in escrow while awaiting word on a federal brownfield 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 property.
In addition to the environmental cleanup, about 50 percent of the three-acre property needs to be raised by eight feet to remove the land from the flood plain.
“All of the environmental work is done on the 19th Street property, and it is ready for a recommendation for City Council when it is placed on the agenda later this month,” Herron explained. “It was determined in May that the contamination that was being studied did not move underground, and that was very good news. It is a chemical that has been there for more than a hundred years, and it’s not moving.
“That property has been an industrial site for many years, and this study took place in an area that is in the back of it near the creek,” he said. “As far as the plans the city has for building on the property, this area would not be involved, so it would not be an issue in the future, according to our environmental consultants.”
The Need
The effort to find new homes for the police and fire department headquarters has been a topic the last few years in the city. One proposal involved a proposed property tax levy that would have funded a $20 million structure on the corner of 10th and Market streets, but it failed to receive 60 percent of the vote in November 2018.
In August 2019, council approved a $2-per-week User Fee to be paid by all employees of businesses within city limits to generate the funds for a one-story, $14.5 million building on the 19th Street property. If a majority of Council members opt to acquire the OVMC campus, however, the Valley Professional Center likely would be renovated into a new headquarters for the police department.
“The good news on the (19th Street) property is that none of the material would have to be hauled off the site. It’s just a matter of appropriate cover, vapor barriers, and aligning anything that would be constructed so they would not be over top any of the problem areas,” Herron said. “So, all of that work has been completed, so now is the time to move forward and put it up for consideration by the members of City Council.”
