MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Negotiations involving the Morgantown Utility Board on an agreement involving access to the private water system of Shorty Anderson’s Auto Service for the Upper Popenoe Run sanitary and storm water project continue to remain ongoing.

After months of negotiations between the owners of the local business and MUB regarding a permanent easement across the garage on the Stewart Street property, co-owner of Shorty Anderson’s Travis Rowan has spoken out on the multiple factors related to why they haven’t backed down on their two-pronged request to move forward, one of which includes $150,000. The owners of the family business expressed that their offer was based on the project’s appearance of making up for the utility’s role in overdeveloping the Upper Popenoe Run area, which was done with a lack of foresight in correspondence with the West Run Planning Commission. This also led to their second request for a formal guarantee that the Upper Popenoe Run project would be the last piece of future expansion in the area.

“They (ratepayers) should be upset too, because this problem was put in place by the (Morgantown) Utility Board and the West Run Planning Commission,” said Rowan on why their terms for an agreement haven’t changed since being approached by MUB in early 2024. “What is the West Run Planning Commission for if they’re not making sure that the infrastructure is in there before they allow people to develop?” he asked.

The work involving the Popenoe Run project would include the installation of 2,950 feet of gravity sewer line, 1,070 feet of storm sewer, rehabilitation of the Upper Popenoe Run stream, and some 207 tree plantings. The area where the project would take place would go from Willowdale Road by the side near Milan Puskar Stadium and run between Richland Avenue and Randolph Road, then to Hoffman Avenue. The work would also run behind homes on Amherst Road and Stewart Street, where Shorty Anderson’s Auto Service is located. According to the owners of the business that has been operating in the area for over a decade, this is being done to account for construction around the Manchester Place Rental Community and Avalon Apartments, requiring the utility to use a private system meant for the garage property. Despite the proposal including an upgrade of the property’s system, the owners feel it doesn’t prevent long-term issues related to development behind the garage, which is something they couldn’t address on their own if a permanent easement is granted, like what has been done in the past.

“They’re 18-inch pipes, and at the time they installed them, that (Manchester Place Rental Community) was a small trailer park with a few trailers in it,” said Rowan on the system developed by his uncle on the garage property, which has been complicated by development. “There was no blacktops, not a bunch of roofs like there is now, which obviously accumulates a lot of water,” he said.

In the initial offer from MUB towards the owners of Shorty Anderson, it included covering all expenses of upgrading the system intended for the property the garage is located on as well as paving the area behind the garage intended for extra parking and $2,800. This offer was rejected by the Rowan brothers based on the use of the property’s pipes to potentially continue development behind the Stewart Street property, which, with a permanent easement agreement as part of the contract, would prevent the business owners from being able to develop the property on their own. With the easement also preventing any development that could hurt business operations both in the short and long term, the owners of the garage felt their counter-offer of $150,000 and a formal guarantee that future expansion would cease and business impact would be minimal was a reasonable request.

“They (MUB) keep claiming that they’re upgrading our property to serve us, they’re not,” said Rowan on WAJR’s Talk of the Town. “They want to upgrade our pipes to serve the developers behind us,” he said.

As part of regular reports released by MUB during the meetings, the utility has made formal requests to have the Rowan brothers meet with members of MUB leadership to discuss an agreement. According to Travis Rowan, those requests have not come with any formal offers in writing or in email other than what has been previously offered and rejected in late August. With statements from MUB officials including warnings that the portion of the Upper Popenoe Run project would simply be readjusted with future plans around the property taking place without the owners of Shorty Anderson’s Auto Service involvement. With the expectation that the offer won’t change, Rowan feels the stalemate will continue in the short term.

“I feel like if they had a reasonable offer, they would’ve sent it in an email or letter, I just feel like if they don’t have a different offer or option, we are all wasting our time by meeting,” Rowan said.

With a month remaining before the MUB set deadline to begin the Upper Popenoe Run project, neither MUB nor the owners of Shorty Anderson’s Auto Service appear to be ready to make concessions to make their respective agreements happen. This is further complicated by the $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds from both the City of Morgantown and Monongalia County Commission, which is set to be sent back to the federal government by the end of 2024 if they’re not formally obligated. With an appearance that the work will continue with or without the Rowan’s involvement, regardless of any cost increases involved, the owners of Shorty Anderson’s Auto Service hope Morgantown area residents are paying attention to the Upper Popenoe Run project, the involvement of the West Run Planning Commission in development plans, and the potential costs to ratepayers if large-scale developments continue without planning.

“Everybody around here who pays for storm water runoff should be very upset that things like this are going on,” said Rowan. “I guess if you have the right last name, they’ll allow you to do anything, and if it screws the little guy, then the federal government comes in and takes care of it,” he said.

MUB plans to meet with Morgantown-based contractor Laurita Inc. this week for a pre-construction meeting as part of their $3.22 million contract for the Upper Popenoe Run project.

 

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