Rehabilitation And Improvement for Structures Endowment (RAISE) Program
The WVLSC will receive $1,000,000 in congressionally-appropriated funds this year from the HUD Economic Development Initiative to pilot its Rehabilitation And Improvement for Structures Endowment (RAISE) Program.
The WVLSC will issue grants for demolition and rehabilitation of problem properties to communities with populations of 15,000 or less that have developed a bad buildings inventory through participation in the WVU Bad Buildings Program. This project stems from the WVLSC’s ongoing work with West Virginia’s Abandoned Properties Coalition, a statewide network dedicated to solving West Virginia’s widespread abandoned and dilapidated buildings problem.
We are not yet accepting applications, but interested applicants can explore the following resources in advance:
Land Bank: Smokestacks Property
In November 2019 the WVLSC Land Bank acquired a 2.31-acre parcel informally known as the Smokestacks property, located in the Morgantown Industrial Park. We used funds from our US EPA Brownfields Assessment Grant to conduct both a Phase I and Phase II environmental assessment of the property. US EPA awarded us a US Brownfields Cleanup Grant in July of 2020 to remediate the property to prepare it for reuse.
In November we hired Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc. to oversee the remediation of the property. We are currently in the planning phase of the project and will issue a Request for Quotations for the remediation work in the coming months. Members of the public can access the Information Repository of documents related to the site’s remediation here.
The Smokestacks property once housed a coal-fired power plant and a water filtration plant that serviced the U.S. government’s ordnance and chemical manufacturing facilities during WW II. Despite its prime location in an active industrial park, the cost of removing the property’s damaged structures and properly handling the environmental issues have thus far rendered its redevelopment economically unfeasible. Once we properly address the site’s environmental issues, the owners of the Industrial Park plan to construct a loading and storage facility that will eliminate the need to transfer commodities multiple times as they enter and leave the Park, thus making the Park more attractive to current and future users. Additional infrastructure improvements are in the works for this area that could complement the redevelopment of the Smokestacks property.
Raze International began remediating the property in early December 2021 and expects to finish work in early 2022. They removed large quantities of debris and asbestos from the site and took down the conveyer belt attached to the smokestacks. Next they will demolish the two brick buildings leftover from the WWII-era ordnance facility.
Empower Albright Project
The WVLSC and the Northern Brownfields Assistance Center used a Just Transition Fund planning grant to create a reuse plan for the former Albright Power Plant property and the nearby Cheat River recreation area. We convened a task force to lead this effort that includes Friends of the Cheat, the Preston County Economic Development Authority, and the Preston County Task Force. Our work will provide a realistic view of the work involved and cost of redeveloping the property.
Brownfields Assessment Grant
The WVLSC received a $300,000 EPA Brownfields Assessment Grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2019 to conduct environmental assessments over a three-year period. We prioritize projects that have clear redevelopment plans. So far we have assessed the Historic Morgantown Post Office, Morgantown’s Warner Theatre, the smokestacks property in the Morgantown Industrial Park. We funded reuse plans for the former Albright Power Plant and the Warner Theatre. Our contractors are currently working on a Phase II assessment of White Park, which was previously used as a tank farm and now sits upstream of Morgantown’s water treatment facility.
Click here to find out whether these funds can help your community.
In Lieu Fee Program Assistance
The WVLSC is working with the WV Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Water and Waste Management to become the long-term steward of the mitigation projects created through its In-Lieu Fee Mitigation Program. The WV DEP started the Program in 2013 to restore, enhance, replace, and preserve streams and wetlands to compensate for losses to aquatic resources caused by development authorized by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permits. The Program’s goal is to achieve no net loss of existing stream and wetland acreage and functions in West Virginia.
Special Reclamation Program Assistance
From 2016-2021, the WVLSC helped the WV Department of Environmental Protection's Office of Special Reclamation meet its reclamation obligations by overseeing the design and construction of land reclamation and water treatment facilities at sites where coal mining permits were revoked due to bond forfeiture.
ENERGY MARKETING SLURRY IMPOUNDMENT, BARBOUR COUNTY, WV
This fall our contractors finished the reclamation of a large slurry impoundment that contained refuse from an old Energy Marketing mine near Century, WV in Barbour County. They removed the water from the impoundment and moved large amounts of dirt to create a stable surface. Once the newly seeded vegetation fills in, the former mine site will recede into the landscape.
LAROSA FUELS, MARION COUNTY, WV
Our contractors built a large water treatment facility to deal with ongoing acid mine drainage at a former mine site near the Opekiska Dam on the Monongahela River. This reclamation project addressed water quality issues stemming from an old strip mine site. Contractors installed a water-driven dispensing unit, constructed additional holding ponds, and upgraded access roads to curtail seepage into the Mon River from a deep mine portal. The facility is actively treating acid mine drainage coming from the old mine. Treatment will continue indefinitely and be monitored by the WV DEP.
ENERGY MARKETING, BARBOUR COUNTY, WV
Our contractors addressed uncontrolled surface drainage and other problems stemming from an old mine shaft and slope entry at former mine site near the community of Century, WV in Barbour County. They demolished and removed leftover facilities and debris and reseeded the disturbed area.
Before reclamation
After reclamation
Below is a map of all our projects. Click on the project location for more information about each one.