MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Parcels of property that are home to the Beechurst Power Plant could be removed from the Sunnyside Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District.
Morgantown City Council unanimously approved a resolution that would consider an application to amend the boundaries of the TIF as part of the original Sunnyside Up Project Plan that would remove four parcels of property on 555 Beechurst Avenue from the TIF district. The approximately 4.3 acres of property is under consideration for removal as part of a combined application that also seeks to extend the 2038 TIF termination date by an extra 15 years and increase TIF bonding capacity.
“Ryan (Simonton) and I have been working together over the past few weeks to take a look at the base and current assessed values of the Sunnyside Up TIF district.” said Frost Brown and Todd attorney Carrie Cecil, who worked with Kay Casto and Chaney attorney representing the city Ryan Simonton on a potential application. “So we made a recommendation to remove four parcels that were in the original base,” he said.
According to Cecil, the request to remove the now non-active power plant from what is formerly called the “City of Morgantown Redevelopment District No. 3” TIF was based on assessed values of the parcels encompassing 555 Beechurst Avenue. According to the regular meeting agenda packet, the request was made by the Campus Neighborhoods Revitalization Corporation to move forward with the removal of the four parcels based on the values of the property being below the base values of other properties within the Sunnyside Up TIF. With other caveats included in the whole application outside of the TIF realignment, the removal of the properties would help with the application process.
“We’ve made a recommendation to remove four parcels that were in the original base but are having a negative impact on the increment for the district, so this is just the first step in the process,” said Cecil.
The Beechurst Power Plant is still occupied by Morgantown Energy Associates and provides steam heat to West Virginia University buildings. The plant has stopped producing electricity since 2020.
The extension of the TIF to what would be a December 16, 2053 deadline was included as part of a request to realign the original Sunnyside Up TIF District. A request to increase bonding capacity for the TIF would also be part of the application based on the need to provide additional issuances for TIF revenue bonds on an as-needed basis to complete additional development within the TIF. The increase in bonding capacity request was also made a part of the potential application by the Campus Neighborhoods Revitalization Corporation.
“The other thing we recommended was considering the 15-year extension of the termination date to kind of allow the development to continue within the Sunnyside Up TIF District,” said Cecil.
Before any official application to the West Virginia Department of Economic Development is granted related to the Sunnyside Up TIF District, a public hearing will be hosted by the city as required by state code ahead of a formal application being submitted by the city. The city council would still be required to approve the application before receiving state approval to issue an ordinance that would formally eliminate the properties consisting of the Beechurst Power Plant to be removed from the TIF. With plans to continue to develop the Sunnyside neighborhood, longtime city officials expressed initial support for the original Sunnyside Up TIF district to be re-evaluated.
“Appreciate you all working on this,” said Morgantown Deputy Mayor Jenny Selin. “We talked about the extension for a long time, it’s time to do something to keep it above water, so thank you for working on it,” she said.
A public hearing will be scheduled within the next few months.