MORGANTOWN — A nice belt can bring the entire outfit together.
The Mon Valley Green Space Coalition is hoping to one day see a nice (green) belt bring all of Morgantown together.
A green belt is a non-motorized, or active, transportation network that surrounds and connects a community.
“They connect neighborhoods to parks, neighborhoods to schools, neighborhoods to downtown and to any other features of interest. They connect neighborhoods to each other,” Rick Landenberger, representing the Green Space Coalition, has explained.
Earlier this week, the years-long push to create Morgantown’s own green belt picked up significant support in the form of BOPARC.
The recreation commissioners voted unanimously on Wednesday to offer formal support for the concept with the understanding that support could take more tangible forms down the road.
“It is not budget season, and we do have a lot of needs and requests, but I would feel better about supporting if we had some sort of intention to actually act on it in the future,” BOPARC President Danielle Trumble said. “It’s one thing to say, ‘You have a great idea.’ It’s another thing to say, ‘We would like to help you work on this.’”
As the backbone of a green belt is typically built off existing infrastructure like parks and trails — then connected through easements, land acquisitions or other methods — Landenberger said getting BOPARC on board is no small victory.
“It’s something we can point to and talk about in the public sphere,” he said. “Just having you guys kind of, in spirit, behind this idea is a significant step.”
There are many, many steps left to take.
Landenberger said it will likely take several years to flesh out the network. He said it’ll also take a lot of cooperation, noting a “significant chunk” of that work will be with private landowners.
“There’s probably not a green belt in the history of the country that doesn’t cross private land in many places,” Landenberger said. “We’re cognizant of the reality that there will be people who say, ‘I don’t want anything to do with this.’ But if we get to a big piece of property and the guy’s not going to let us cross, we’ll go around. We’ll find an alternative.”
Green belts, he continued, bring economic impact by making the community more connected, and therefore more attractive to potential buyers. Further, it has direct benefits to the health of its users and surrounding environment as an alternative to personal automobiles.
But putting it all together is going to take a different kind of green.
So, how would it be funded?
“Probably the same way you fund a lot of conservation projects,” Landenberger said. “We’d chase down grant funding, look to foundations, talk to local donors, talk to land donors. We’d do it the same as we fund any other conservation project; we’d beat the bushes and never deny any possibility. Go after it all. Write a lot of proposals.”
It was proposed the next step should be the formation of a planning committee with representation from BOPARC, the city, the Green Space Coalition, WVU and other potential stakeholders.
“It’s already partly there,” Commissioner Jenny Selin said. “It’s just filling in all those gaps.”
