Council looks for a definition of economic development
A Beckley Common Council workshop on Tuesday sparked a debate on the definition of economic development and how it relates to the more than 100-acre Pinecrest Business and Technology Park property in east Beckley.
The heart of the issue is whether or not a cross country course developed on 30 acres within the Pinecrest Business Park can be considered "economic development" and fall within the covenants and restrictions placed on the Pinecrest property which the city received it in 2022 from the Pinecrest Development Corporation.
Also mixed up in this controversy is a pending lawsuit brought by the Pinecrest Development Corporation against the city of Beckley for failing to uphold the transfer agreement signed when receiving Pinecrest.
The agreement contained stipulations regarding the construction of infrastructure in Pinecrest and required the property to be used for business development and job creation, which is broadly referred to as economic development.
During Tuesday's meeting, Woodrow Wilson High School cross country coach George Barbera argued that economic development encompasses more than just "brick and mortar" businesses.
"If you look at how Webster (dictionary) defines it, it talks about the improvement of the community," Barbera said, adding the cross country course in the Pinecrest Business Park does just that and more.
Jim Sheatsley, the attorney for the Pinecrest Development Corporation, said Barbera's definition of economic development is "a definition of economic development" but countered that it was not the definition that legal documents attached to Pinecrest, including the deeds, property agreement and covenants, went by.
"It's a commercial business property," Sheatsley said. "This is recreation, and I understand that it's valuable, but I don't think it's conflated in that 2005 deed, in terms of restricted for commercial development."
The deed Sheatsley referenced is from June 2005, which conveyed the Pinecrest property from the West Virginia Economic Development Authority to the Pinecrest Development Corporation.
Included in the deed is a section that states the property is to be used for "developing, establishing and maintaining one or more business, technology or industrial parks or one or more educational facilities."
The "educational facilities" referenced would later be Beckley Stratton Middle School and Beckley Elementary School.
The deed, as well as other legal documents connected to the property dating back to 1928, can be found attached to this story at register-herald.com .
To this statement, Beckley Councilmember Sherrie Hunter, who advocated for the cross-country course to be considered economic development, asked Sheatsley whether the deed could be amended to allow the cross-country course to remain on the property without violating any restrictions.
Sheatsley said the deed could be amended, but it would require the approval of the West Virginia Economic Development Authority as well as every property owner that has purchased property in Pinecrest since 2005 under the existing deed restrictions.
The reason the issue is before council is because the city is considering transferring the Pinecrest property to the Raleigh County Commission.
The city has had the property for roughly two years and has made no steps to develop it, though it does collect around $280,000 annually in rent from existing tenants who were on the property when it was transferred to the city.
County officials have stated they can use federal Covid-19 relief funds to develop the property.
The city spent all its federal Covid-19 relief funds and, according to Mayor Ryan Neal and Councilmember Cody Reedy, does not have the funds to develop Pinecrest in adherence with the property transfer agreement.
"I've been in business . . . the key is you use OPM – other people's money, and right here you have federal funds waiting specifically to be used for this," Neal said. "So the city, our taxpayers, we do not have to put any money up; that's the whole reason to transfer it."
To fund a Pinecrest infrastructure project, which was estimated to cost over $6 million, Reedy said the council was previously informed that they would need to pursue bonds and other loan options.
Beckley will vote on whether to transfer the Pinecrest property to the county at a meeting on Oct. 22.
Raleigh County Commission President Greg Duckworth said that should Beckley Council approve the transfer at its next meeting, the commission would accept it and still have enough time to allocate its federal funds, which must be designed by the end of the year.
Teachers with Beckley Stratton Middle say they don't want the property to be transferred to the county because they feel their voice will be even more lost in the process.
In addition to wanting to keep the cross country course, teachers and others opposing the transfer have raised the issue of safety concerns in locating businesses close to two existing schools.
"My school (will be) facing the backsides of all the buildings that's gonna be there," said Beckley Stratton Middle School teacher Antonette Mazzella-Gwinn. "What happens on the backside of buildings? That's where their trash goes. That's where everybody goes on smoke break and breaks. Now all of my children have to see that . . How can we go outside with our kids, having all these strangers there? No one cares. Where's the safety in that?"
Mazzella-Gwinn said the schools also use the fields in Pinecrest, located next to the school, for several outdoor activities, both educational and recreational.
She said she also feels like their concerns are not being given as much weight because of where the school is located and the population it serves.
"If we were Shady or Park, we wouldn't be here right now," Mazzella-Gwinn said. "But this is Beckley's inner city, lowest income, one of the lowest performing in the county."
Mazzella-Gwinn, Barbera and others have requested that council separate the 30 acres encompassing the cross country course and transfer the remainder of the property to the county.
County officials have already stated that they would not be interested in Pinecrest if it were to be divided by the city.
Sam Rich, a project manager with The Thrasher Group, which was hired as the engineer for Pinecrest, called the 30 acres where the cross country course sits the "most ideal property from a development standpoint that exists within the entire Pinecrest Business Park."
Rich also stated that a master plan needed to be developed for Pinecrest, which could take into account safety concerns addressed by teachers, green space for school use and factor in a cross country course.
". . . To answer my opinion on what economic development means, it means buildings, it means job creation, construction," Rich said. "Trails and the cross country events that they have there, you can't dispute youth tourism and the economic impact that it has, but it's a couple times a year. I think we have to find ways to make that work with the other proposed development that we're talking about."
Email:
