MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Mon Valley Greenspace Coalition (MVGC) will present their Greenbelt concept to the BOPARC board this week with hopes of gaining future financial support for the project.
Mark Brazaitis said investment into the multi-use trail system could encourage people to use alternate forms of travel, improve health, and remove some traffic from already congested streets.
The northern portion of the Morgantown Greenbelt consists of the West Virginia University Downtown Campus and works all the way up past Star City with a connection at West Run Road. That would be used with a combination of the Mon River Rail Trail and the construction of new trails that would be built based on data on locational trail usage and population. The same would take place in the southern portion of the Greenbelt, which would connect to trails from a newly created loop of trails around the Morgantown Airport and connect to trails within the BOPARC parks system.
“I actually presented to them a month ago at their previous meeting,” Brazaitis said. ” This time they’re voting on whether BOPARC, the board gives approval to the Greenbelt concept I presented to them.”
If the board would vote to support the concept Brazaitis hopes some funding would follow. Morgantown City Council has allocated about 25-percent of sales tax revenue to BOPARC and their stated first priority is capitol improvements for facilities and playgrounds that are in some cases 60-years old. An estimated $4 million in sales tax revenue was allocated to Marilla Park improvements
“They’ve been using it on construction of the new pool and we think that’s great,” Brazaitis said. “But, they will continue to have that financial resource and we think the Greenbelt is a worthwhile investment.”
Brazaitis said there are some initial areas that could be acquired and developed to begin to put pieces of the belts together. Options could include conservation easements, property purchases, or even property purchases.
“There are some delinquent properties along White Avenue that would be pretty easy pickups and with the right incentives to property owners we might be able to get some rights-of-way,” Brazaitis said.
The continued increased demand for outdoor recreation was noticed during the pandemic and has not waned. Brazaitis hopes support from BOPARC could result in progress for some of the smaller sections that could eventually complete one or both rings.
“We would hope it would accelerate the process, that is a BOPARC stamp of approval would move up any potential deadline,” Brazaitis said. ” We’re in this for the long haul and we realize we have to build the Greenbelt piece by piece.”
BOPARC meets in Morgantown City Council Chambers at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9.