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WESTOVER - "The Westover waterfront during the industrial age was abused - postindustrial, ignored."
During Tuesday's meeting of Westover City Council, attorney Tim Stranko said he's been charged by Mayor Bob Lucci to work with property owners like WVU and Preset 31 LLC to address some of the longstanding issues that have kept development along the city's riverfront at bay.
Those issues include the land's industrial past and its entanglement with the Norfolk Southern railroad.
"We're making some progress. We're talking to the [brownfields] group at WVU about grant money to investigate what's in the soil down there. I can only imagine the industrial legacy pollution that we may find there, which may constrain future use, but we'll find out. We need the facts," Stranko said.
Stranko went on to say that a meeting with Norfolk Southern was scheduled for this week to discuss Long Street - portions of which are owned by the railroad.
"I think the mayor's position, and I think it's a sound one, is that we're not going to operate and maintain a street unless we own the street. We're not doing it for the railroad. That's the ask we're going to talk to them about, conveying that property in some form acceptable to you. Hopefully a fee simple conveyance, but if it's something less than that, I'll certainly bring that back to you," Stranko told members of council. "But the overall goal is to open up that waterfront for development, which includes opening up Long Street and improving that railroad safety device at the crossing."
This is not a new concern.
Preset 31 LLC - which owns the former Cyphert Industries property that is now home to tenants including Short Story Brewing, Bunkers, Bailey Glasser and others - came to the city in 2022 to inquire about bringing the street into the city's street network.
The city reached out to Norfolk Southern to request the property be donated. The company sent a letter indicating it would take a year or more to respond to the request.
Based on Stranko's comments, that's where things remained as of Tuesday.
If and when the city is able to take ownership of the right of way, there remains the matter of fixing it.
As of four years ago, it was estimated that it would likely require at least $750,000 to bring a portion of the street up to the city's standards.
In addition to the property owned by Preset 31 LLC, the West Virginia University Board of Governors owns 5.64 acres directly across the river from Reynolds Hall.