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ELKINS -- The City of Elkins will close a small section of Railroad Avenue Monday in order to begin the process of demolishing a dilapidated property at 17 Davis Avenue.
The road will be closed for safety reasons between Davis Avenue and First Street beginning at 7 a.m.
The structure to be demolished is the former Lexy's Bar, a building that previously housed many other bars and businesses, having been built in the 1920s.
The demolition announcement by the city raised questions among some locals, as the building had been purchased by the owners of Big Timber, a business located further down Davis Avenue from the building.
"The property at 17 Davis Avenue is one of 12 specific condemned properties the city was awarded funds to demolish under the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection DLAP (Dilapidated Properties) program in September 2022 (then called the WV DEP Reclamation of Abandoned and Dilapidated Properties Program)," Elkins City Clerk Sutton Stokes told The Inter-Mountain Wednesday in response to questions about the situation.
"We were one of 21 cities and counties that received funds in the first year of this program, which was authorized by the state Legislature in 2022. Elkins was awarded $300,000 for the first phase of demolitions funded under this program.
"As for ownership of 17 Davis Avenue: Neither condemnation nor the demolition process shifts ownership of any property to the city," Stokes said. "So, all 12 of the properties on this list are in and will remain in private hands before and after these demolitions.
"Regardless, the city is moving forward with the plan it submitted to DEP in 2022, namely, to demolish as many of these properties as possible using the allocated funds."
The DEP said the Dilapidated Properties Program "is leveraging allocated resources to engage with municipalities and counties across the state… Dilapidated properties can have far-reaching consequences, encompassing environmental hazards, crime, and economic decline. Moreover, they significantly impact property values."
Stokes said, "Our interest in moving forward with our 2022 plan is the same as the DEP's, the neighboring property owners, and indeed Elkins as a whole: to eliminate dangerous eyesores that have long been a source of blight and crime and enable better uses for the benefit of the Elkins community.
"If some of these 12 properties change hands because new owners see greater potential after the removal of dilapidated structures, that will basically be a proof of concept of the wisdom of the state legislature in making these funds available. Or, as the DEP website says: 'Turning liabilities into opportunities, one dilapidated property at a time.'
"We are all hoping the Legislature will continue to fund this program in the coming years so this vital work can proceed."