MORGANTOWN — The Monongalia County Commission made its contribution to the resurfacing of Valley View Avenue official on Wednesday, approving $17,690.
Valley View connects to Willowdale Road across from Milan Puskar Stadium, at the site of WVU Medicine’s new Willowdale Garage.
The county’s funds will be added to equal amounts from WVU Medicine, the Morgantown Utility Board and Zip Shearer, owner of Chateau Royale Apartments, for the work, which is expected to be completed by Wednesday, weather permitting.
The project, totaling $70,750, will be handled by Stone Paving, of Reedsville.
Commission President Tom Bloom explained that the opening of the new parking garage coupled with the influx of pedestrians that comes with the return of students prompted the four-way agreement — particularly given the condition of the street and recent news from the West Virginia Division of Highways
“I just want to make sure people understand this was a cooperative effort. We understand that, in two weeks, the new parking garage will be open. That’s 852 cars at least twice a day. There’s 750 to 1,000 people who walk down that road,” Bloom said. “We are taking care of something that the DOH was going to take care of, but due to whatever reasons, it got moved back a year and delayed.”
MUB has said its portion of the project satisfies an agreement with the DOH through which the utility helps repave a portion of any state rights-of-way it disturbs.
MUB General Manager Tim Ball explained that in addition to a small amount of work tied to the new parking garage, MUB has completed nearly $800,000 in general system improvements in that area.
Also on Wednesday, the commission said it is ready to help bring closure to a family estate that has been open since 2009.
As he has many times previously, Lou Scotchel asked the commission to assist in sorting out the estate of his uncle, Arthur P. Scotchel, a Westover businessman who died in March 2009.
The commission said it intends to reach out to lawyers for the interested parties to request dates in the next four weeks for a hearing. The commissioners said they will not accept requests for continuances.
“It’s been my opinion that part of the problem is they’ve simply been unable to agree on something as simple as dates,” Commissioner Sean Sikora said. “We need to force a date and move forward.”
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