MORGANTOWN — Morgantown Communications Director Andrew Stacy said work to restore portions of White Park impacted by the placement of a raw-water pipeline likely won’t begin until at least next spring.
The Morgantown Utility Board, which is on the hook for the remediation under a licensing agreement signed with the city in the fall of 2019, said it’s committed to upholding its end of the deal but was asked by the city to hold off for now.
“The Morgantown Tree Board has a plan for the tree replacement remediation that includes initial placements of trees in White Park. We are working with MUB and the tree board to finalize this plan so that it meets the requirements under the agreement,” Stacy said.
“The trail designer hired under the license agreement has completed the trail design.”
Stacy went on to say the project will likely be out for bid later this year and see construction sometime in 2022.
The restoration follows the placement of MUB’s 30-inch gravity-fed water line, which connects the 370 million gallon Flegal Dam and Reservoir being constructed along Cobun Creek Road with MUB’s treatment facility off Don Knotts Boulevard. The reservoir and waterline represent a $50 million effort to provide an adequate backup water supply for Morgantown and beyond.
The saga of the White Park water line was a months-long affair that began in April of 2019, when public backlash forced MUB to halt work on its original path through the park due to the impact it would have on the public space and hundreds of its mature trees.
After several months of, at times, contentious discourse that included numerous public meetings and negotiations between the city and utility, an agreement was announced on Nov. 1, 2019, the date set by MUB as the deadline for negotiations.
Per that agreement, MUB has to build a new trail through the park, including two water crossings, that will create a loop on the south side of the existing Cobun Creek Reservoir, extending to the end of the property, near Don Knotts Boulevard.
The utility will also have to provide $3,000 per trail mile, per year in maintenance fees and plant two trees for every tree removed during construction of the line.
In a recent letter to city officials, JoNell Strough, chair of the Mon Valley Green Space Coalition, said it’s beyond time the park receives the attention promised.
“The lack of progress on restoring trees to White Park and enhancing its south side with a trail, bridge, and crossing is especially unacceptable in light of how controversial and unpopular MUB’s pipeline was from the start,” Strough wrote.
“The license agreement was an imperfect compromise. While it gave MUB what it wanted, our community suffered the loss of a significant number of trees, especially in what might be called the park’s ‘front door’ section on Mississippi Street, a highly visible and highly visited area that, pre-waterline-construction, featured some of Morgantown’s oldest oak trees.”
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