Much like the Little Engine that Could, the city of Westover isn’t letting a stubborn obstacle halt progress towards its goal – the vitalization of a portion of its riverfront.
In the city’s case, however, railroad tracks are the actual obstacle.
Technically, the development effort isn’t being spearheaded by the city, but by a private concern – Preset 31 LLC – with the city serving as the official sponsor and recipient of any potential grant dollars.
Preset 31 lists members Phillip Weser, Kevin Salisbury, James Ridgeway and Matthew Bourne, respectively the CEO, CFO, president and vice president of Morgantown-based contractor March-Westin.
Earlier this week, Terri Cutright, president of marketing and management firm Terri Reed Cutright & Associates, told Westover City Council she had been hired by the group to explore potential funding opportunities for the riverfront project.
Cutright said she’s submitted congressionally directed spending requests to Sens. Shelley Moore-Capito and Jim Justice seeking $2.4 million.
Further, she said she’s looking at railroad safety grants and is working with the West Virginia Grant Resource Center to track down dollars that could be used to address infrastructure improvements and, potentially, recreational amenities in the riverfront area near the Westover Bridge.
The area in question was once home to Cyphert Industries. Now, Preset 31 owns that property, which has attracted businesses like Short Story Brewing, Bunkers, Bailey Glasser and AD1, as well as a Mon EMS substation.
But it’s not the only property owner in the immediate area. According to the county’s online parcel viewer, the West Virginia University Board of Governors owns 5.64 acres directly across the river from Reynolds Hall.
Norfolk Southern also owns property along Westover’s riverfront.
In fact, Long Street, which is currently being used by the West Virginia Division of Highways as the detour around Westover’s Holland Avenue project, is partially owned by the railroad company.
And therein lies the issue.
In order to guarantee access to a newly-revitalized riverfront, representatives from Preset 31 came to the city in March 2022 to inquire about bringing Long Street into the city’s street network.
The city reached out to Norfolk Southern to request the property be donated. A month later, the company sent a letter indicating it would likely take a year to respond to the request.
That’s where things stand.
It was explained at the time that if Norfolk Southern didn’t want to participate, the city could consider condemnation if it could make the case that the property in question isn’t part of the active rail system.
That option remains, but it’s not preferred.
“Condemning a railroad – and Norfolk Southern can be particularly unreasonable from time to time – would be a federal court case and a significant amount of money,” Attorney Tim Stranko explained. “We’re trying to do this the positive way and get some cooperation and some help from our political leadership.”
If and when the city does take ownership of the street, there remains the matter of fixing it. Anyone who’s traveled the Holland Avenue detour knows how rough it is.
In 2022, it was indicated at least $750,000 would be needed to bring a portion of the street up to the city’s standards.