Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV
March 13, 2011
500 McDowell buildings marked for demolition
KATE COIL
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

WELCH — An estimated 500 derelict structures are set to be demolished across McDowell County with officials hoping that removing the dilapidated buildings will enhance the county’s appearance and provide room for new development.

McDowell County Commissioner Gordon Lambert said the goal of the demolitions is to improve the county’s image.

“This makes the county look better,” Lambert said. “We have so many old and abandoned buildings that make the county look terrible and devalues the property around it. We are looking at tourism and people don’t want to come to an area that has all of these abandoned and derelict buildings in it.”

Lambert said the county commission is working with various organizations, business owners, and town officials to find which buildings in the county need to be removed.

“We are trying to get a list of structures all over the county and buildings that need to be torn down,” Lambert said. “I would say there are close to 500 structures countywide we are looking to demolish. We have already started with the Elkhorn school and are doing a partial demolition for the church group that owns that. We should be there in the next day or so. We are then starting with the Gary area and the town manager is getting to us a list of buildings there that need to be demolished.”

According to Lambert, the declining population of the county has caused many buildings to fall into disuse or disrepair.

“Most of the buildings are residential, though some are old schools or businesses,” he said. “We had 100,000 people living in McDowell County at one time, during the height of the coal industry, but now we are down to 22,000. A lot of the structures have gone by the wayside because of that.”

Additionally, Lambert said many of the owners of the buildings targeted for demolition no longer live within the county and no longer take an active role in making sure their property is kept up.

“A lot of these property owners have left the county or even the state and we have to look at their property taxes to find out who owns the property,” Lambert said. “Then we can contact them and get permission to work with the structure. Most of these people don’t care how the property looks because it’s no longer their community. So far, all of the owners we have contacted have been excellent to work with. Some of these properties have been sold to the state, so we have to go through the state for demolition.”

Lambert said the county is seeking bids through the Redevelopment Authority on five residences where owners could not be contacted or were not cooperative with tearing down structures. Lambert said the five buildings in question are in the right-of-way.

“Initially, we give them the option to demolish these abandoned or derelict properties for free,” Lambert said. “People aren’t always cooperative with us to give the property structure over. After demolition, the people who own the property retain the property, just with the flat land without the structure. We put the remnants in the county’s construction and demolition landfill. If we use the county landfill, we can deposit them there and we aren’t out that cost.”

Once the buildings are demolished, Lambert said what is left is vacant land ready for rebuilding and new development.

“It gives people property to do things with,” he said. “We are in need of housing and other things. We don’t have a lot of flat property and this allows people to rebuild a new, better structure on that land. The main goal is to get these eye sores out of the community so property values will increase.”

Lambert said he hopes the vacant land will then be used to help the county’s budding tourism industry.

“We see a lot of potential for these vacant lots,” he said. “People utilizing the Hatfield-McCoy ATV trails could build a home some place so they can come and ride and enjoy their vacation time. It’s possible people could use them to build businesses that cater to tourism as well. It would be a great ending to this project if people started building back in these places.”

— Contact Kate Coil at kcoil@bdtonline.com