BIG master plan unveiled; council expresses concern

Vote delayed on money worries

By Amelia A. Pridemore

More two years of hashing out ideas for a $24 million downtown Beckley revitalization project turned into an actual blueprint Tuesday night when project managers unveiled a master plan.

But city council members hesitant about financial concerns for the Beckley Intermodal Gateway, now slated to cost about $48 million once a second phase is added, decided not to approve or trash the plan just yet.

Mayor Emmett Pugh said a workshop session will be scheduled soon so council members, project engineers, community leaders and the public can further discuss the project.

David Hafley of the Lexington, Ky.,-based Parsons Brinckerhoff engineering firm and project manager for the BIG project presented the master plan at Tuesday night’s council meeting that includes a 4,000-square-foot transit facility, 504-space parking facility, a public open space/community gathering area, a three-level mixed-use building, a pedestrian bridge over Leslie C. Gates Place and an area for future expansion.

Phase 1 would include the transit facility, pedestrian bridge, parking facility and public open space. The transit facility and parking, he noted, are major elements in having the Federal Transit Authority — the grant funding source — approve the project. Raleigh County Community Action, Hafley said, is slated to run transportation operations. The agency’s ridership continues to rise and it needs new facilities.

Phase 1 would cost an estimated $20 million, Hafley said. This, the city should be able to afford. But city would have to seek more money for Phase 2, estimated to cost another $28.7 million, according to figures Hafley provided.

The second phase, Hafley said, would include the mixed-use building to house city hall, tourism/economic development agencies and possibly National Park Service headquarters. Visitor orientation and interpretative elements are also in the plan. Retail shell space would also be constructed.

Hafley estimated the economic benefits of the project, as presented, would be major. The construction period alone would employ 153 people. Once completed, BIG would both directly and indirectly create 247 jobs, provide $9.66 million in payroll and $8.35 million in expenditures, plus it would provide $4.6 million in on-site sales.

The city does not have “money in the bank” for Phase 2, Hafley conceded. For that matter, it has not come up with the entire local match for Phase 1 yet. But while Phase 1 is constructed, officials can work toward finding funding sources for Phase 2. He said the first phase should develop interest in the second, and the project has “congressional support.”

“This is a $40 to $45 million investment in downtown Beckley — the single-biggest investment in any of our lifetimes,” Hafley said.

The master plan did not come without criticism.

Paul Hutchinson and Tom Sopher, both members of the BIG Steering Committee, both brought up concerns about the facility’s cost and President-elect Barack Obama’s spending priorities. Hutchinson emphasized Obama has hired someone solely to monitor the federal budget, particularly earmarks. Also, Obama’s priorities tend to lean toward infrastructure.

Several also doubted Phase 2 could even be built.

Councilmen Lee Leftwich and Robert Rappold, however, believed the city could be missing the boat.

“Why do we keep hashing this thing?” Leftwich asked. “This is an opportunity for Beckley. Where’s your faith?”

“At the 11th hour, we’re nit-picking everything,” Rappold said. “If we let such an opportunity go by, shame on us.”

However, Councilmen A.K. Minter and Cedric Robertson and Councilwoman Ann Worley had concerns about costs, parking and voting before all the facts were in front of them.

“I think that if we vote tonight, it would be sort of disastrous,” Minter said.

— E-mail: apridemore@register-herald.com