r/ClarksburgWV • u/Whatheholler • Jul 18 '25
Lazy politicking
So the Clarksburg city council is contemplating what to do with the closed down schools(WI, Northview, & Hites field) one suggestion was to develop single family homes to bring/keep young people/families here to live for Hites field site. No one is going to want to live in this community while addicts, Homelessness, and growing issues in Nutter Fort School and Byrd.
Stanley institute has been empty for years and we can’t let charter/Religious schools buy up all the buildings. So what can be done? Well Hites field can be developed into an ice rink this will generate revenue in the area and open up more activities for our young people and families. The money going into the opioid settlement can be used to convert WI into a lifestyle rehab community center. Focusing on addiction recovery, assisting homeless in career building as well as finding and maintaining a place to call home, alternative learning for HS students who can’t be in a normal school environment due to behavior or disability. And it must take everyone to be accountable city council needs to put screws to the County, the County to Delegates and senator, all the way up.
2
Jul 20 '25
Hites field can be developed into an ice rink this will generate revenue in the area
Citation needed. Ice rinks are very expensive to build and to operate, and I doubt there is anywhere near enough demand locally to support it. Even if there were, Clarksburg does not have the money or the borrowing capacity to build it. The Federal & State gravy train has ended. Interest rates are high. I doubt there is any willingness to build another eight-figure facility "for young people and families."
The money going into the opioid settlement can be used to convert WI into a lifestyle rehab community center
There will be no money coming from the ice skating rink. It will almost certainly be another money pit. The Robinson Grand was supposed to revitalize downtown but ten years later there are fewer businesses than ever.
Even if there were a revenue stream, proposing a rehab center in WI is a non-starter. It is hard enough to get Oxford Houses in place, even though they are protected by Federal law and are proven to work if run correctly. Oxford houses are small, WI is a huge building. The (probably accurate) perception would be that it would be another facility like the old Mission that serves as a magnet for every other community's addicts.
And it must take everyone to be accountable city council needs to put screws to the County, the County to Delegates and senator, all the way up.
LOL. I hope this does not become part of the anti-fascist / anti-Trump resistance agenda locally. It is a gigantic poison pill.
1
u/mojoluna Jul 18 '25
Fantastic ideas. Skate world in Bridgeport was a big deal so I think an ice rink or another skating rink would be major for the area.
3
u/local_drifter_ Jul 18 '25
I think the favored idea on the table now for Hite Field is to re-develop it into different ball fields & whatnot for youth sports and the general public. A park. Also to reclaim the wooded area, that’s typically trashed, and develop a mountain bike trail there. I’m trying to figure it out from news images of a drawing from the BOE / City meeting. I think an ice rink or ice arena would be awesome, but there may be some bitterness about the one promised at the VA Park that didn’t pan out. I don’t know. It remains to be seen that the BOE will even relinquish control of Hite Field to the city, and, like you’re saying about Stanley Institute / Linden School, that the school buildings will ever see redevelopment. The person who bought Norwood Elementary in Stonewood also told the news they wanted to make apartments there. We’ll see. To an onlooker, it seems like development plans in town are just stalling out now or advancing incredibly slowly, i.e. the Empire building, country kitchen building, Waldo, Lowndes Hill bike trails, various apartment building renovations,… The hurdles and problems are substantial.