MORGANTOWN – In what’s been described as a “proactive measure,” Morgantown City Council has passed on first reading an ordinance that would allow the city to initiate eminent domain proceedings on two properties in lower Greenmont.
Eminent domain is a legal mechanism allowing government to take private property for public use without the property owner’s consent as long as fair compensation is provided.
The properties targeted for acquisition by the city – 629 and 657 Pennsylvania Avenue – fall within the area identified by city leadership and the Morgantown Land Reuse and Preservation Agency as the future home of a neighborhood park and greenspace in an underutilized portion of the city’s oldest neighborhood.
Rehabilitating lower Greenmont is a development priority for the city. Combined, more than $3 million in American Rescue Plan Act dollars, Community Development Block Grant allocations, and congressionally directed funding have either already been spent or are anticipated and earmarked for the effort.
Specifically, the neighborhood park project has become the focus of the city’s Community Development Block Grant spending plan.
Earlier this month, council approved the reallocation of just over $300,000 in fiscal year 2025 CDBG funds to support the creation of a pedestrian bridge spanning Deckers Creek as part of the larger park project.
The properties in question are located near the proposed bridge site, at the intersection of Brockway and Pennsylvania Avenues, situated within an area identified on city plans as “Proposed Neighborhood Pocket Park.”
“The city continues to work with those property owners in an effort to negotiate a transfer price that is acceptable to the owners as well as to the city’s funding agency. This is really done as a proactive measure in the event that the city and the property owners would not be able to agree on terms that are acceptable to all parties, and the city is in a place where it needs to move forward in order to meet the timelines of the grant funding requirements,” attorney Ryan Simonton said. “In particular, one of our upcoming spend-down timelines for these CDBG funds occurs at the beginning of May, so we need to be in a position where the city is able to expend those funds and still move forward with the project …”
For the property at 657 Pennsylvania Ave., a purchase price not to exceed $60,000 was approved by the Morgantown Land Reuse and Preservation Agency in March, indicating the transaction was imminent.
The home that previously stood at 629 Pennsylvania Ave. burned in July 2024 and has since been razed.
Councilor Jenny Selin noted eminent domain can be utilized to bypass issues like title complications and isn’t necessarily the result of stalled or adversarial negotiations.
“Sometimes it’s used when it’s just difficult to obtain a clean title or there are issues with trying to purchase a piece of property that are beyond the control of the person who is trying to sell a piece of property,” she said. “So, I just wanted to keep that in mind while we’re looking at something like this.”
According to the Monongalia County Assessor’s office, 629 Pennsylvania Avenue is 0.04 acres owned by Maxine Rush; and 657 Pennsylvania Ave. is 0.03 acres owned by Jeremy Slamick.