MORGANTOWN — What does the future hold for the former Woodburn School property?
Chris Haddox, chair of the Woodburn School Redevelopment Commission, said the commission feels it’s time to once again give that question serious consideration in light of recent events.
The building was closed as an elementary school in 2010. In 2013, the city of Morgantown purchased the structure and four-acre property in the heart of Woodburn for $490,000, and promptly formed the volunteer, advisory commission charged with charting its future.
As of right now, that future is uncertain for multiple reasons.
The first being COVID-19.
“COVID has kind of changed the way we think about everything, as we’re all coming to realize. I don’t know what the future holds in terms of large scale programming on that site,” Haddox told Morgantown City Council. “I think we would be kidding ourselves to think that next year it’s going to be full of 300 people a day on that site. Who knows? We have no idea what’s going to happen in that regard.”
Second, the Mountaineer Boys and Girls Club, one of the largest and oldest tenants in the facility, was forced to stop programming at the site after an audit from the national organization in the summer of 2019.
Haddox said he has doubts as to whether the organization will return.
He went on to note that the 100-plus year old building is difficult to monetize and is currently losing money.
This despite fairly substantial investment of Community Development Block Grant funds by the city, including a $791,134 contract with Veritas Contracting in November of 2019 for improvements including construction of an elevator and a number of accessibility measures.
Even so, it was noted that the programming and work taking place at the site by its existing tenants, including PopShop Performance Academy, MT Pockets Theatre and Friends of Deckers Creek has value to the community that goes beyond a budget line item.
“I don’t see why everything the city does has to make money. This seems like a place that we could support and make sure it’s able to continue as a community center, and not always worry about is this making money or not,” Councilor Barry Wendell said. “It’s going to lose money and I think we should just accept that.”
In other news from Tuesday’s committee of the whole session, council will take up a zoning reclassification for a half-acre parcel on Burroughs Street, as mandated by the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.
The issue dates back to 2016, when Calvary Baptist Church sought to divide its property and sell off a half-acre in order to finance sanctuary repairs. However, the potential buyer was only interested if the newly created parcel was rezoned from R-1 (residential) to B-2 (business service). The city denied that reclassification.
In October, the state’s high court backed Monongalia County Circuit Court Judge Susan Tucker’s 2018 ruling that the city’s handling of the church’s zoning request was unconstitutional.
Lastly, council moved a lease agreement with the Monongalia County Health Department forward for consideration.
The lease is for an outbuilding located next to the parking area at the Morgantown Municipal Airport.
The MCHD will pay $45,000 annually for the 4,653 square-foot facility.
