MORGANTOWN — If you had to use a single word to sum up Wednesday’s Monongalia County Commission meeting, that word would be “finally.”
If you had to use two, add “proud.”
Some 217 days after the commission, WestRidge and the Morgantown Utility Board agreed to collectively pay just over $11 million to receive $3 million in West Virginia Water Development Authority grant funding, the memorandum of understanding spelling out the details of that agreement is in place.
The money — $3,687,667 from all three parties — will be combined with $3 million from the WDA to bankroll $7,225,000 in water improvements and $6,838,000 in sewer upgrades for the WestRidge and greater Chaplin Hill area.
The water project will include an upgrade of the Chaplin Hill booster station as well as 9,625 feet of 12-inch water line and 1,100 feet of 24-inch water line crossing beneath the Monongahela River at the Westover bridge. It will also include the construction of a new 859,000-gallon water storage tank.
The sewer improvements will include a lift station upgrade as well as 9,000 feet of force main and 1,200 feet of sewer line crossing beneath the Monongahela River at the Star City Bridge.
“This level of cooperation has never been experienced before here in Mon County or anywhere in the state,” Commissioner Sean Sikora said. “We had to push a lot of limits and, honestly, knock a lot of heads together to keep everybody focused on the real goal, to finalize this project and get this expansion to this side of the county.”
This story started back in mid-2022, when the parties believed there would need to be a 20% local match ($2.8 million). Based on word out of Charleston, that number soon grew to 50% ($7 million) and ended at about 80% last December, when the WDA announced its grant awards.
That’s part and parcel of representing Monongalia County, according to Commission President Tom Bloom.
“Every other project is 20%, but then they wanted 50%, and we thought, ‘Ok, we’re willing to do 50%.’ Now we’re at 80%,” Bloom said. “I want the public to understand that is what is happening in Monongalia County. But we were able to do it and we’re going to benefit from it … even though we had to do four times more than any other project.”
According to The Dominion Post archive, the WDA approved $96 million in Economic Enhancement Fund Grant dollars for 30 applicants — 14 of which received their full funding request and 16 of which, like MUB, received a portion.
While MUB received $3 million of a $7 million request for $14 million in improvements, a $13 million request from the Greater Harrison County Public Service District was fully funded and The Berkeley County Public Service Water District received $18.4 million, which was a portion of its full request.
The commission said MUB and WestRidge should be commended for their commitment to the project, as should Morgantown Area Partnership CEO Russ Rogerson, who helped push the collaboration forward.
“This is really historical in the sense that we recognize as a group that section, that whole quadrant of the county, is a growth area for us – Mylan Park, Chaplin Hill Business Park, WestRidge. It’s only going to continue in that area,” Rogerson said. “As the dollar amount got higher, the bigger the challenge, but really, really excited to be a part of that and really proud of the result.”
Speaking on behalf of Mylan Park, Ron Justice lauded the leadership shown by all involved.
“I don’t know of any other community that would have put this together. In all honestly, I think most other communities would have said, ‘It is what it is and therefore we can’t do what we want to do.’ It was a very difficult lift, and you all made the commitment,” Justice said. “You’re to be commended for that because really what’s going to happen over the next 20 to 25 years … is the benefit that is going to be seen from the actions you all have done.”
