CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — Commissioners in Harrison County will consider a 15-year extension of the Charles Pointe Tax Incremental Tax District (TIF) this week. The Charles Pointe TIF District expires in 2035, and a measure passed during the 2023 regular legislative session allows a 15-year extension.
On WAJR’s “Talk of the Town,” Harrison County commissioner Patsy Trecost said TIF districts are a way municipalities pay for infrastructure repairs and upgrades by holding future increases in property and sales tax revenues after the district is established for local use.
“Legislators, senators, and the governor signed off on it,” Trecost said. “To give county commissions the opportunity to continue development where the rubber meets the road, nobody knows Harrison County better than Harrison County.”
Trecost said the combined efforts of Harrison, Marion, and Monongalia counties have produced a string of developments that have produced good jobs for these communities. In fact, Trecost predicts I-79 will soon have six lanes in either direction to accommodate the growth.
“There’s a stretch of road right now that is going to continue to grow and grow, and the gap between us and the Pennsylvania state line is going to shrink,” Trescost said. “We’re feeding off each other and making the right moves economically to create jobs.”
The Charles Pointe area is billed as a 1,700-acre mixed-use development valued at $1.5 billion that includes a mix of single- and multi-family homes and townhouses. The area contains a mix of retail locations and will soon be home to the Vandalia Health small-format hospital.
“It’s an economic boost for the county because we’re seeing people move in, and we’re seeing more job opportunities here,” Trecost said. “We’re one of the few places in the state of West Virginia where we actually need more homes built because we have more jobs than we have homes.”
Trecost believes continued growth at Charles Pointe will make it a regional asset in the future. The diversity of businesses, housing, interstate access, and soon a $25 million health care facility all in the same place is something no other community in the state has.
“If we can provide better health care, this can help that development with the reputation Mon Health has and WVU Medicine right down the road,” Trecost said. “We’re making things better for our county and every county around us, from Doddridge to Ritchie and Barbour.”
Starting from scratch, there are more than 400 residential units, with plans to push that to capacity at about 2,300 units. As the development has grown, it has combined residential, recreational, commercial, retail, internet for all homes and businesses, and education to meet the needs of a growing community.
“As they say,” if you build it, they will come,” Trecost said. “We’ve done it over and over here all the way up the interstate, and we’re going to continue to create job opportunities and an economic environment that people can live in and be satisfied with.”
Commissioners will advertise the public notice in local publications this week and will hold a vote on the extension in July.