West Virginia City Wants Ideas for Proposed Recreational Space Where Old Plant Sits
October 13, 2024 - The City of Fairmont wants to ask residents what should replace the Helmick Manufacturing site on Minor Avenue at a public meeting on Oct. 24.
The City plans to apply for a $1.5 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency that is focused on brownfields cleanup. Brownfields are previously developed lands that were used for industrial purposes that may now be contaminated from industrial pollutants.
“The environmental cleanup of the Helmick site will create significant opportunity to not only serve the existing residents but to also support and catalyze future community and economic development,” Planning and Development Director Shae Strait said. “Quality communities are where companies want to be to support themselves and their employees. The City wants to make sure we get this right for all users and that folks are satisfied with how it happens.”
The Helmick Manufacturing Site on Oct. 11, 2024.
Photo by Esteban Fernandez
The money from the grant would help remediate the contamination, and once the recommended actions to clean up the site take place, the City wants to repurpose the land for recreation. Recommended action to clean up the site includes a soil cover, landscaping, impervious caps for impacted areas and implementing a land use covenant restricting groundwater use.
The property was originally the Fairmont Mining Machine Company in the 1910s. Manufacturing was the sole enterprise conducted at the site. The Helmick Corporation, a specialist in metal fabrication and roofing, acquired the site most recently but the company closed in 2023. The City ended up in possession of the property after receiving it as a donation for the purposes of remediation and redevelopment.
A few residents of nearby Virginia Avenue agreed if the City is going to do anything, it needs to build something for the neighborhood’s children.
“I mean, because the school’s right there and [West Fairmont Middle School] doesn’t really have much for the kids to do,” Tracy Hicks, resident, said. “Fairmont doesn’t have anything in general, really. Since they opened up Retro Skate, that was nice. But something else for the kids might be nice for them to be able to go and do.”
Hicks works at a gas station and regularly sees children getting into things they’re not supposed to do. Having something for kids to enjoy where Helmick Manufacturing now stands would help them avoid encounters with the law.
Brittany Sacks, another Virginia Street resident, agreed with Hicks, saying the only thing nearby is the school and not much else. One other resident had no clue what to do with the property.
The meeting is Oct. 24 at 6 p.m. in the Public Safety Building at 500 Quincy St. Some of the improvements the City has proposed include a soccer field, multi-use sports courts for games such as tennis or pickleball, a pedestrian trail as well as the necessary amenities to support whatever use the City finds for the space. The project will only take up 8 acres of City owned land and does not require additional property from landowners nearby, such as the former Helmick office building, which is up for auction.
“Recreation opportunities should fit the needs of any given neighborhood, and this public input session is the best way we can directly gauge the community’s desires,” City Manager Travis Blosser said. “This is around 8-acres of flat land, and the possibilities are wide open. This is just another step toward our goal of reinventing Fairmont’s recreational tourism opportunities, and we need the public’s support and input to make that happen.”