Governor Jim Justice recently announced grant awards for the Pilot Project, administered by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP). The City of Hinton was among the recipients as one of only 18 municipalities to receive a grant. The newly established Reclamation of Abandoned and Dilapidated Properties Program through WVDEP is providing the funding for reimbursement of demolition projects. The City of Hinton has been awarded a grant of $170,500 to remove dilapidated structures within the city.
Hinton’s Mayor, Jack Scott, said, “We’re excited about the Pilot Project. It falls in line with one of the goals of this administration, and that’s to be able to clean up dilapidated housing and help clean up the town. I really want to commend City Councilman Jim Leslie for his work on this. It took months of work and tremendous amounts of paperwork, and with assistance from Anna Ziegler and City Manager Chris Meadows, they were able to secure the grant.”
Mayor Scott estimates that the city will be able to bring down around 14 or 15 structures with the funding from this grant. He noted that the city has already demoed 20 properties and has around 40 more to complete. The funding from the Pilot Project will allow the city to finish almost half of the remaining structures. He also stated, “We’re hopeful if we’re successful with the program that we can also perhaps be funded again next year.”
With the removal of dilapidated structures, opportunities arise for new projects. Mayor Scott spoke about the ability to develop the cleared areas. He said, “Fortunately, we have a group that’s building some senior housing. I think four to five units are being built right now and those are already taken. So the demand is there. We just figure out how to clear enough space to begin to develop that here and I think it’s crucial to our future development that we focus on that. The demolition is really important for us to continue.”
The demolition projects also provide another benefit to the area. Mayor Scott said, “We’re going to create a land bank, and we’ve already begun that process.” Little information is currently available regarding this project. However, Mayor Scott noted the cleared properties owned by the city will go into the land bank to be sold at an auction.
For more information about the Pilot Project, visit dep.wv.gov or governor.wv.gov. To get additional information on the city’s projects, call City Hall at 304-466-3255.
