Hinton

Hinton

BUCKHANNON — The City of Buckhannon agreed to work with the Upshur County Development Authority towards realization of an access road to the UCDA property at Brushy Fork.

Rob Hinton, executive director of the UCDA, reminded council of the property being developed by Aaron Harris for his auction house and outpost next door to the Event Center at Brushy Fork.

“We have worked with the National Guard to get a shared easement to get in and out of our property by sharing the entrance and the exit that is already there for the readiness center and event center,” he said.

“We applied for a highway entrance permit and DOH recommended for safety reasons there not be two entrances and exits right next to each other on Brushy Fork and recommended we work with National Guard to get an agreement where we could share the use of the right-of-way,” Hinton said.

“That was successful,” he said. “We do have an easement that has been executed not only by the Guard but also by the development authority. We are good to go there.”

Hinton said he spoke with Mayor Robbie Skinner about partnering with the City of Buckhannon to help the UCDA with design and construction of the road.

“One of the things we can do as a development authority is we can go after an industrial access road grant,” he said. “We have done this before,” he said.

The UCDA was successful in acquiring a $400,000 grant to repave the Industrial Park Road a couple years. In that case, the Department of Highways performed the labor.

“There is an ability for us to go after the grant and have the city do the work,” he said of the access road on Brushy Fork. “We would be able to cover the cost with that grant.

Hinton said he did not know how much the city could receive for this grant and a cost estimate for the project would not be ready until a design was completed.

“There are limitations about how much you can go after based on the level of industrial investment that is going to be going in,” he said.

Hinton said he believed that might be about 10 percent.

“The one thing about the grant is it is contingent upon an industrial business going in,” he said. “We do have a company that has a purchase option on six acres for the medical cannabis. Permits are still not out yet for that company. It’s not really sure they will be awarded. If they are, they will be making an investment, then we could leverage that investment to go after industrial access dollars to help pave a road going back into the development.”

Hinton said the road would go to the right of the Event Center at Brushy Fork.

Skinner said he discussed the project with city officials.

“The development authority, through this grant, would agree to pay for the materials of the project and our partnership with them would be our city crew would be the one to execute putting the road in,” he said. “This is within city limits. This would help development along that corridor behind Aaron Harris’ property. This is something I think we should absolutely consider favorably.”

Skinner asked for council’s approval on the project to allow planning, surveying and acquiring the rights-of-way to proceed.

Rylands asked if the other properties would have access to the sanitary sewer and water lines that were ran to the Harris property.

Hinton said the they would have access to the water and sewer. The water main runs on the side of the property where the access road would be put in while the sewer line runs on property that abuts Neil Rohr’s property.

Hinton also reminded council that if the medical cannabis is successful in obtaining its permits, it would be within the city limits and contribute to the city’s business and occupation tax.

“If successful, that would be a substantial windfall, I think, for the city,” he said. “That is another positive aspect of partnering on the development.”

Skinner asked for a motion to support the project and partner with the UCDA to begin the process of designing the road to pursue grant opportunities.

Albaugh moved to approve, seconded by city recorder Randy Sanders.

The motion passed unanimously.