NRGRDA's Belcher to chair Fayette County LRA

Steve Keenan, The Register-Herald, Beckley, W.Va.
Updated ·3 min read

Sep. 29—Jina Belcher, executive director of the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority, has taken on some new economic development-related responsibilities.

Belcher has been elected chair of the newly-created Fayette County Land Reuse Agency, according to a NRGRDA press release issued by the Asher Agency. The state's first-ever county-based land reuse agency is designed to identify abandoned and dilapidated sites and structures, obtain ownership within the LRA, determine and master plan the highest and optimal reuse of the property, and source developers that will create new residential, commercial and industrial developments within Fayette County.

The Fayette County Commission voted the LRA into reality in August. Initial board members of the agency, other than Belcher, include:

—Tom Louisos, Fayette County commissioner;

—Eddie Young, Fayette County assessor; and

—Terry Sizemore, public member, as required by West Virginia Code.

A fifth original member, Shannon Estep, the beautification committee representative, has resigned from the board. At its Sept. 27 meeting, the Fayette County Commission discussed changing the language of the ordinance to avoid restriction of membership, according to Ami Dangerfield, the commission's executive assistant.

Louisos, the county commission president, was a driving force in the authorization and implementation of the Fayette County LRA. "We saw an opportunity to leverage the West Virginia Land Reuse Agency Authorization Act to create a land bank for our county to maximize the use of land and properties," Louisos said in the press release. "The designation of the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve added new pressures on local governments and created opportunities for rapid growth and redevelopment of the region."

Belcher said via the release that the primary goal in this position is for NRGRDA to collaborate with Fayette County to determine the highest and best reuse for abandoned properties that can be turned into quality, taxable assets.

"Jurisdictions throughout the New River Gorge region — and the entire state for that matter — would be well advised to follow Fayette County's lead on the creation of a localized land reuse agency," Belcher said. "Prioritizing the inventory of abandoned, under-utilized properties with a goal of potential reuse and recovery continues to be top of mind for NRGRDA and its communities."

Members of the Fayette County LRA will serve one-year terms and receive no compensation for their service.

The New River Gorge Regional Development Authority's mission is to initiate, facilitate and support the economic and community development efforts within the counties of Fayette, Nicholas, Raleigh and Summers counties. More can be found at https://nrgrda.org/

----"There's a lot of stuff coming (LRA-related); we've just got to put it all together with the mapping," Louisos said in a Wednesday interview. "Once this mapping is done, we're going to go after some funding.

"The mapping to me is the most important because we're going to map all these locations, then we're going to put a projected amount that it costs to redevelop these areas. Then we're going to go after (federal and state) funding for that."

The public will be able to download photos of the mapped properties, he said. Mapping will include properties throughout the county, even within municipal boundaries.

Louisos says he doesn't think the mapping process will interfere with municipalities which already monitor dilapidated properties. "I think we can work together on that," he said.

According to the commissioner, the map will be available on the county commission's Facebook page and the main page of the county courthouse website once it is completed.

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