Beckley Common Council votes to clean up former trash dump

BECKLEY, WV (WOAY) – Following a vote passed by the Beckley Common Council, the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority has recently been given a temporary deed to clean up a former city trash dump below New Jersey Ave.

As part of an $8 million development project, the city plans to make other use of the 20 acres in the future.

“I’ll be glad when I don’t have to say trash dump anymore,” says Beckley Mayor Rob Rappold. “It was a real blight on our history in Beckley as far as I’m concerned.”

Since the property owner, the City of Beckley, cannot receive the grant under the guidelines, the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority is taking matters into their own hands and applying for a federal Brownfields Cleanup Grant that will go to environmentally restoring the area.

Once they receive the deed and clean up the land, it will go back to the City of Beckley.

“It will be nice after all of these years, after probably three-quarters of a century, to move to getting that trash dump remediated and put in toward the use for tourist attractions and other activities along the Piney Gorge there,” he says.

The former dump, being close to Beckley’s Historic Mill area, is now part of the $8 million plan to one day build a visitor’s center and a park in the area.

The vote for the project was unanimously passed during the council on first reading last Monday. They will vote on a second and final reading on Nov. 29.

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