MORGANTOWN — Monongalia County Director of Planning Andrew Gast-Bray laid out what he characterized as a “proposed, tentative” timeline for a county subdivision ordinance during Wednesday’s meeting of the county commission.
The schedule laid out by Gast-Bray would have a subdivision regulation ordinance posted for public review Dec. 1 and public hearings set for Jan. 11 and 12.
If ultimately passed, the ordinance would take effect July 1, 2022. Projects brought forward through the end of 2022 could be grandfathered in under current standards.
After that, in July 2023, a one-year review would be conducted, “such that anything that’s wrong or not functioning, we could amend that and approve that plan, or if that is the choice, rescind.”
As has been previously reported, subdivision regulations have been an on-again-off-again effort of the county dating back to the 1960s.
In keeping with that pattern, the current effort has had its own delays, COVID included.
Initial plans from the planning office estimated it could have a document before the commission for a vote in November 2019. A draft version of the regulations were posted online at monongaliacounty.gov in March 2020. An updated, reorganized version was posted this past April.
Throughout the process, concerns from the development community pointed out that the document coming out of the planning office looked more like zoning than regulations on the subdivision of land.
Gast-Bray said he’s scheduling half-hour workshops for developers and development teams on Nov. 18. Call the planning office at 304-284-7302 to schedule a workshop.
In other news, MECCA 911 Director Jim Smith said Nov. 16 will mark one year since the demolition of the old Catherine’s Knob communication tower.
He’s hopeful it won’t be long thereafter that the new 340-foot freestanding tower, which has been in place since August, comes online.
“Our shelter has been delivered and placed. We are working today to finish up the camera system on the shelter. Next will be the fencing and generator, which we anticipate the fencing coming next week,” he said. “Power is already restored to the site. Power will be ran to the building and our 911 tower will be back functional.”
As the old tower was also used by U.S. Cellular, customers of the wireless provider in that area have had little-to-no service since it came down nearly a year ago.
“U.S. Cellular does have a contractor and they are working to get their equipment back on to our tower,” Smith said, explaining he was told U.S. Cellular is having issues securing materials for the project.
Lastly, the WVU Board of Governors is selling 95.55 acres known as the White Day Golf Course to a private buyer, Whitman Augusta Morgantown LLC.
State code mandates institutions of higher education notify the county of land deals with a proposed sale value of $50,000 or greater.
A public hearing on the sale will be held at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 29 in Marina Tower (48 Donley St.) in Room 401.
According to the notice, information, including terms of the sale, may be inspected at the public hearing or viewed by appointment in the WVU Office of the General Counsel, located in 105 Stewart Hall.
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