White Park efforts receive $500,000 boost

May 28—MORGANTOWN — In November, Morgantown representatives expressed optimism that the city's participation in the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection's Voluntary Remediation Program would lead to grant dollars that would help unlock White Park's south side.

So far, so good.

On May 25, Senator Shelley Moore Capito's office announced the city's efforts in White Park will get a $500, 000 boost from the EPA's Brownfields Program.

A brownfield is a parcel of land with any real or perceived contamination due to a previous use.

In the late 1980s, the WVDEP and the US Environmental Protection Agency formally recognized White Park as a brownfield site as it consists of land that was once part of the South Morgantown Tank Farm. At its height, the farm likely stored more than 2 million barrels of oil and covered around 700 acres.

The city and BOPARC are already tentatively looking at the construction of a new bridge connection to the park's south side sometime in 2024. That bridge will link to a new section of trail to the existing network.

The bridge /trail project is being led by the city and funded by the Morgantown Utility Board as part of the agreed-upon remediation that allowed the utility to run a gravity-fed water line through the park in 2019. That line connected MUB's water treatment center to the new Flegal Dam and Reservoir on Cobun Creek Road.

The bridge project has been held up by complications concerning the Federal Emergency Management Agency's flood data and the necessary blessing of the Army Corps of Engineers.

Morgantown Staff Engineer Drew Gatlin previously explained those complications, while frustrating, gave the city time to seek this additional funding.

"That allowed us to consider that cleanup grant as an opportunity to flesh out amenities and trails on the south side, " he said.

The project in White Park is one of 11 receiving funds, totaling just over $10.9 million.

Goodbye "Grotto "

Speaking of MUB and White Park, the utility's contractor, Kanawha Stone, will likely be on site beginning on or around June 12 to begin stabilization of the spillway connected to the original Cobun Creek Reservoir, located in the park.

Addressing issues with the original Cobun Creek Reservoir is part of the larger Flegal Dam and Reservoir project.

MUB Assistant General Manager and Chief Engineer Rich Rogers said a cutout eroded into the spillway wall nicknamed "the grotto " by some adventurous park users is going away.

It was previously hoped at least some of that unintended feature could be preserved by stabilizing the overhang with anchors.

WVDEP's mine safety engineers put the kibosh on that.

"The concept of that remaining in there a little bit was enticing, but I think safety outweighs the aesthetics of it so we're going to fill in that area, " Rogers said. "We're still going to try to do some finishes that maybe look a little more natural than just slick concrete, but again, it looks like it's all going to be filled in."