ELKINS — The City of Elkins is looking to update its Comprehensive Plan with a focus on public safety, housing, infrastructure and more.

The Elkins City Planning Commission held an public presentation Thursday evening to discuss the draft of the City of Elkins’ 2026 Comprehensive Plan.

In attendance was Planning Commission President Phillips Kolsun, Vice President and Fourth Ward council member Andrew Carroll, Elkins Mayor Jerry Marco and Planning Commission members Eric Armstrong, Dustin Smith and Susan Evick. The meeting was open to the public and was live-streamed on the City of Elkins’ Facebook page. Several community members were in attendance, including Elkins City Clerk Sutton Stokes, three Elkins City Council members and a representative for U.S. Congressman Riley Moore.

The current Elkins Comprehensive Plan was developed by the Planning Commission from early 2013 through late 2014, with support from the West Virginia University Land Use and Sustainable Development Law Clinic. The plan was presented to council on Dec. 18, 2014, and formally adopted after a public hearing on Jan. 15, 2015.

Since its adoption, the plan has been amended twice – in 2017 and 2022 – to reflect specific changes in city policy and conditions. A full update has been underway since 2024, once again led by the Elkins Planning Commission with assistance from LUSD staff.

The 2026 Comprehensive Plan will not be adopted by the City until approved by the Elkins City Council. According to West Virginia state law, comprehensive plans must be updated every 10 years. As Stokes explained on Thursday, comprehensive plans are meant to be “living documents,” updated over time as conditions, needs and opportunities change.

Christy DeMuth with West Virginia University’s Land Use and Sustainable Development Law Clinic led the presentation. The clinic, which is under the university’s College of Law, provides legal and planning services to conserve land and water, support local land use planning and offer educational opportunities for law students and citizens of West Virginia.

DeMuth had previously helped the City of Elkins with its 2015 Comprehensive Plan and with updating the City’s zoning ordinance, which had not been touched since the 1950s. She was joined Thursday evening by Allen Parsons, Isaac Mazurski and Adam Kraus, three third-year law students who work at the clinic for class credit.

“(A Comprehensive Plan) is really a process to determine the community’s vision and what they aspire to be in the future,” DeMuth said. “It’s important to note that the Comprehensive Plan is a policy document. Nothing in this plan will mandate the city do anything. It’s just a document to help them get to their goals.”

The six critical issues laid out in the 2026 Comprehensive Plan are public safety, housing, infrastructure, economic development, land use and technology. DeMuth explained that the original 2015 plan helped lay the updated plan’s framework, along with input from 15 Planning Commission meetings, 166 responds to a public survey and 30 responds from shareholder surveys.

Several matters were highlighted under the critical issue of public safety, however, Parsons explained that one high priority issue the City needed to focus was ensuring the Elkins Fire Department is fully equipped and supported. Parsons explained that, in their shareholder’s survey, the fire department stated that the station needed repairs and that there was a lack of volunteers.

Parsons explained that solutions offered in the 2026 Comprehensive Plan include considering the feasibility of a “strategically placed” public safety substation and exploring partnerships with Randolph County regarding fire services as the Elkins Fire Department is the only fire department out of 10 in the county with paid staff and specialized equipment.

“So, a key concern was to provide fire services beyond the city’s primary area and funding is going to be an issue with that,” Parsons said. “The county has a separate fire fee that supports the volunteer departments, but it could be beneficial to explore a partnership and establishing a unified county-wide fire department.”

In his presentation regarding the critical issue of housing, Marzurski highlighted a lack of affordable housing, the amount of dilapidated housing and a lack of new housing, especially downtown. He explained that about 63% of homes in Elkins are owner occupied while 37% are rentals.

“So, there’s a lack of affordable housing,” Marzurski said. “About 60 of the units are vacant, and the most vacant homes are homeowner housing scattered throughout the city… 38% of the housing was built before 1939. So only 38 new homes have been built.”

Marzurski said that 51.8% of those who completed the public survey felt that affordable housing options are “extremely important.” 42.2% felt that it was “extremely important” to address dilapidated buildings in the city.

In regard to the critical issue of infrastructure, Kraus explained that a major point of concern was the city’s wastewater collection pipes, which collect both water and rainwater and can lead to an overload during high rain.

Kraus said solutions offered in the 2026 Comprehensive Plan include continuing to improve the water and sewer system, consider a storm water utility fee and consider storm water ordinance.

“(A storm water utility fee) would provide funding and the ability to maintain a public storm water system,” Kraus said. “Typically, these fees are set up to be a flat fee for residential structures and then a percentage fee for commercial structures based on impervious cover.”

Kraus also highlighted public concerns raised over high traffic, specifically Randolph Avenue to Graham Street and the condition of streets and sidewalks and lack of parking

DeMuth then spoke on the details of the critical issues of economic development, land use and technology. This included concerns raised over the limited room for further business development and land use conflicts. DeMuth admitted that the issues of technology were a newer addition to comprehensive plans.

“This critical issue is a brand new one and, quite honestly, I had not addressed (technology) yet in a comprehensive plan that I’ve worked on, and I’ve worked on a lot,” DeMuth said. “So this is new to me too, but this is definitely something that needs to be talked about.”

DeMuth explained that working on technology would include controlling traffic lights, tracking road conditions, protecting pedestrians, improving internet efficiency and the use of smart technology in public safety.

Currently, the Planning Commission is holding an open-public comment period until May 8. Any comments residents want to give the City regarding the current Comprehensive Plan draft can be sent to Elkins City Clerk Sutton Stokes.

The Elkins Planning Commission will be holding an meeting, open to the public, on May 14 to discuss the draft, review public comments and make final changes. The Planning Commission will then hold an official public hearing to allow citizens to speak on the Comprehensive Plan.

After a 30-day public notice period, the final draft of the 2026 Comprehensive Plan will be presented to the City Council. The City Council will also hold a public hearing before voting on whether to adopt the plan or not.

Residents can read the draft of the 2026 Comprehensive Plan at the City’s website at cityofelkinswv.gov.