In response to our last editorial regarding the land dispute between the city and Dan Nagowski (DP-12-04-20), Morgantown City Council Member Barry Wendell wrote a letter to The Dominion Post claiming the council had no idea there even was a problem until Nagowski sued the city. However, Wendell’s letter (featured today, page C1) left us with more questions than answers. We sent some of our questions to Communications Manager Andrew Stacy. His response: “City administration has released a statement on this … . They do not plan to provide any additional comment as the matter is pending litigation.”
Briefly: Improvements made to the Hazel Ruby McQuain Riverfront Park, including a restroom facility and new sidewalk, encroached onto about 800 square feet of the Wings Olé (University Avenue) lower parking lot. Last year, Nagowski had verbally agreed to an encroachment of 35 square feet, but never signed any paperwork. He tried multiple times to stop the construction on his property but was given the runaround until after the project was complete. Now the city seeks to acquire the land it already built on through eminent domain.
According to Wendell, members of city council did not know there was a problem with siting until Nagowski “sued” them. We looked back at the court filings, and the only suit Nagowski has brought is the counterclaim against the city’s eminent domain lawsuit, which Nagowski filed on Dec. 4, 2020. We have been reporting on this property dispute since March 2020; city council approved acquiring the property “by agreement with the owner or by eminent domain if needed” in August and moved forward with those proceedings in November. Hence our confusion. How could council have voted to acquire the disputed property in August if its members supposedly weren’t aware there was an issue until December?
At best, Wendell wasn’t paying close attention during council meetings; at worst, the city manager, communications manager and attorney (all non-elected positions) are operating separately from our elected city council, and that is a cause for concern in and of itself.
Our second question regards passing the blame on to the contractors or the Hazel Ruby McQuain Charitable Trust. We reported in March that Nagowski first approached the construction workers in December 2019 about building on his land. He eventually spoke with Phil Weser, co-founder of March Westin, who told Nagowski they were merely following the design plans. Nagowski then went to the Charitable Trust, but it just signs the checks, so it passed him to then-City Manager Paul Brake. Brake finally met with Nagowski in March, but by then, the damage had long since been done. How could construction proceed without any signed agreements? And once the “misunderstanding” occurred, where does the buck stop? Why was Nagowski given the runaround for months and who had the authority to stop the construction? If none of the parties involved can answer that question, then there’s a serious problem.
