The former Davis Center, located near Blackwater Falls State Park, may be slated for use as storage for the West Virginia parks division.
On Monday, lawmakers from the Senate Finance Committee questioned Stephanie Bond, director of the Division of Juvenile Services and Emily Fleming, assistant to the director of the Division of Natural Resources.
In a MetroNews article from last Tuesday, Matt Maccaro said “Stephanie Bond revealed the fallback plan to lawmakers and answered questions about a legislative audit that criticized the DJS for giving the state no significant return on the funds.
The article said renovations at the Center, initially designed to become a 24-bed correctional facility for female juveniles were scrapped in 2012, and the property will revert to the state Division of National Resources and is proposed to be used as a storage building for Canaan Valley and Blackwater Falls State Parks.”
Maccaro said during Tuesday’s meeting, Bond “recounted the juvenile housing project failed to get off the ground during construction, and quoted Bond as saying, ‘You find out when you remodel sometimes it costs a little more than it does if you just start out. They hit obstacle after obstacle during the construction.”’
According to Maccaro’s account, Senate Finance Committee chair Mike Hall claimed he was ‘incredulous’ at the thought of the state ‘squandering so much money on the facility and asked ‘”I was just trying to get an explanation of how a decision was made. So now we’re going to hear that all isn’t lost? The DNR is going to take it?’”
The article said Fleming told lawmakers the DNR will store equipment at the facility, and said the ‘DNR remains in talks with the Tucker County Commission about other uses for that property.’
Tucker County Commission President Lowell Moore said talks between the Commission, the Department of Corrections and the Division of Natural Resources have been limited.
“It was disappointed to hear the DNR plans to use the facility as storage,” Moore said. “The value of the property, its location next to Blackwater State Park, as well as the money that has been recently invested into the property, makes is valuable. I hope that it can be used for something more than storage.”
Moore said the Commission will strive to communicate with both the DNR and the Department of Corrections to discuss viable options for the property.
Diane Hinkle, Tucker County Commissioner, said she hopes to be able to talk with DNR representatives about possible uses for the facility.
“There have not been any recent formal talks, so (the article) this announcement the facility will be used as storage is a total surprise,” Hinkle said. “Over the course of the past year or two, anytime a DNR official or anyone from Corrections has spoken with the Commission, there is always talk of the Davis Center and best uses for the facility.”
Hinkle said they did not realize the DNR had decided to use the facility for storage.
“It was never a formal, let’s figure out a plan,” Hinkle said. “It was mostly informal discussions about best use for the property. We welcomed the opportunity to have that conversation, but it has not happened yet.”
Hinkle said she did not feel using the facility as storage is the best use of the property because it does not enhance the community, nor the local state parks.
Tucker County Commissioner Patrick Darlington said he believes the former Davis Center facility is too nice to be used for storage.
“I think it is a facility, that worked properly, could prove to be a benefit for the county,” Darlington said. “I am looking forward to future talks and negotiations with the DNR to see what we can do with the facility to benefit the county.”
Darlington said there have never been any formal talks between the Tucker County Commission and the DNR, but there have always been informal comments about the facility.
“I am looking forward to sitting down with them and going over some options on what might be available for using the facility,” Darlington said.
