MORGANTOWN — The annexation of Suncrest Elementary School into Morgantown’s municipal boundaries will be a topic of conversation this evening for the Monongalia County Board of Education and Morgantown City Council.
Superintendent Eddie Campbell and the BOE will take the topic up as an action item during their 5:30 p.m. meeting in the Mountaineer Middle School auditorium.
According to city council’s agenda, Campbell is then expected to share the board’s recommendation to city council during a presentation at its 7 p.m. committee of the whole meeting.
Campbell explained that bringing Suncrest Elementary into the city was a topic first advanced by his predecessor, Frank Devono.
“So we wanted to kind of reopen that for the board so that they could talk through that with the new board members and so I could get a handle on that as well,” Campbell said.
He said the conversation has primarily centered around bringing the school — located at 3647 Collins Ferry Road — under the protection of the city’s police and fire departments.
“The benefits of having some of the services of the city really work out well for the school itself,” Campbell said. “So that’s the primary focus there, and that’s my understanding of what the primary focus of that has been, to reap the benefits of those city services.”
The city’s 7th Ward boundary currently runs in front of the school on the other side of Collins Ferry Road. Additionally, the 7th Ward juts out in a narrow spur that runs along the southern edge of the Timberline Apartments — which neighbor the school property — and to the far bank of the Monongahela River.
According to Morgantown Communications Director Andrew Stacy, along with bringing the school into the city, a prospective annexation plan in that area would also allow for increased connectivity.
“While the Suncrest Elementary property is contiguous to current city limits, but separated by a street, it is not contiguous with property in the area that has been identified as an important connection to the rail-trail,” Stacy explained.
That connection is the planned Collins Ferry Connector Trail, a half-mile path linking the Suncrest and Collins Ferry Road neighborhoods to the rail-trail.
Mon River Trails Conservancy Director Ella Belling said MRTC supports the annexation, noting that just counting the school, NETL and Mylan there are more than 500 students and 2,000 employees within a half-mile of the rail-trail.
“We see this as a positive step toward better walking and biking infrastructure on Collins Ferry Road,” Belling said.
According to Stacy, the city is considering the best area to propose for annexation by minor boundary adjustment, but whatever is proposed will very likely include the Collins Ferry right of way.
“We are awaiting a formal declaration of interest from the Monongalia County Board of Education, but one of the main drivers of interest in annexation has been to allow the city to construct sidewalks and other measures allowing safe access to the school, which would require annexation of the roadway.”
Annexation requests ultimately must be approved by the Monongalia County Commission.
