MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Flash flooding concerns related to residential developments within the Willowdale neighborhood in Morgantown appears to have been addressed with the help of county officials and area developers.
The Monongalia County Commission received an update on the flooding that affected residents of Acorn Village during the month of June during their regular meeting Wednesday where Monongalia County Director of Planning Andrew Gast-Bray announced that the developers of Kings Court have taken steps to avoid any future flooding concerns with co-operation from the county and Acorn Village residents. The multiple remedies ranging to retainer wall improvements and tree placements are expected to be put in place in the coming weeks, with some already enacted, and are aimed to account for the delay of a water infrastructure project that played in role in the flooding caused by three inches of rain that hit the area in less than an hour back in early June, a short drive away from Milan Puskar Stadium.
“They’re willing to work with the neighbors to green this up and they moved the (retention) wall back two feet to allow for bigger trees in there,” said Gast-Bray on what has taken place to address the early summer flooding. “That I’m hoping to coordinate that effort with the neighboring community to cover this stormwater retention infrastructure.”
According to Gast-Bray, the flooding that was reported back in June was primarily caused by the incompletion of the Upper Popenoe Run drainage improvement project, which has been delayed multiple times since the start of 2025 due to inclement weather. With the project intended to directly ease any flooding concerns related to developments such as Kings Court, the delay resulted in what would’ve been a preventable situation if the project was completed on time, to be turned into thousands of dollars worth of water damage to dozens of Acorn Village homes. While there were initial concerns by Acorn Village residents over zoning and construction permitting, Gast-Bray affirmed that the developers of Kings Court were in constant communications with the county, the Morgantown Utility Board (who is lead on the Upper Popenoe Run project), as well as with contractors and no violations of any kind took place. Unfortunately, that also means that the flooding was going to happen regardless with scheduled drainage project on delay.
“They still have to build the stormwater management facilities and unfortunately this has been a wet and challenging year,” said Gast-Bray. “And they were in the process of building that when we had an exceptionally hard event that hit them, three inches (of rain) in 20 minutes.”
After the flood, Gast-Bray mentioned that Metro Properties, the developer of King’s Court, made the effort to reach out to both county officials and Acorn Village residents in the weeks after the June floods. This follows similar communications made by the developer since the Kings Court project broke ground, with Metro Properties making financial contributions towards the Upper Popenoe Run drainage improvement project with support by the county and MUB, along with signing provisional agreements with the county that were put in place prior to ground breaking. With the county in constant communications and the developer making the initiative to follow procedures, the commission marked the situation, as bad as it is, as an issue strictly caused by bad timing.
“We conditionally approved the development of significant impact,” said Sikora on the agreements in place between the county and Metro Properties for the King’s Court development to move forward. “Has the developer followed those steps, you (Gast-Bray) have indicated they have, there are entities that have jurisdiction over this, they have indicated that there was no violation, it was strictly a problem with timing.”
With the extra provisions in place, the hope for developers, the commission as well as other county officials along with the residents of Acorn Village, is that the flash flooding that has affected the area will be at least eased. This is after multiple rainstorms that have taken place throughout the summer has caused flash floods not only around the Willowdale neighborhood, but also in other portions of the county, which has seen at least four ‘100 year flood’ scenarios reported in parts of the Morgantown area and low lying municipalities. With the county and the developers on board along with an appearance of an understanding with Acorn Village residents, the hope is that the flooding will be reduced as MUB contractors work towards completing a long awaited project.
“We have concerns for this area and we’ve been working to address the problems in this area,” said Sikora. “That’s no consolation when you’re replacing your flooring or throwing stuff away that’s gotten flooded, but we have been on top of this project through our planning office.”
The Upper Popenoe Run project is valued at approximately $405,000 with contributions from Metro Properties and the county.