Daily Athenaeum
30 November 2006
By Angela Moscaritolo, Staff Writer
The West Virginia University women's crew team will get a new $87,000 dock as part of the Upper Monongahela Center, a new marina along the Monongahela River.
The new dock will be approximately 180 feet by 8 feet and will allow the crew team space for up to five boats that can be launched simultaneously.
The new facility will enable the women's crew team to host a regatta in Morgantown with space for up to 15 teams, according to Rich Lane, director of Development and Brokerage of Platinum Properties, the development company for the new marina. He added that the new dock will also allow other schools around the Northeast to train at the facility.
The new marina has been in planning and development for the past four years, Lane said.
The women's crew docks will be installed within the next month, and the marina will be operational for the women's crew team this winter, Lane said.
In addition to the new crew dock, the facility will include a new restaurant and space for public kayak launching. The entire marina facility is scheduled for completion by the spring of 2007, Lane said.
"We're almost at the finish line and we're very excited about it," Lane said.
The total cost of the new facility is $4.2 million, funded by a state economic development grant that was awarded to the city in August of 2003. However, this amount is not sufficient to cover the cost of the crew dock, Lane said
"We've always contemplated that the women's crew team would be part of the project," Lane said.
At the Nov. 21 Morgantown City Council meeting, council approved City Manager Dan Boroff's request to pay for the new crew dock with funds from the city's capital escrow account. Boroff suggested that the docks be leased to WVU to "recapture" the money it will take to build the dock.
In order to issue the lease, the city will transfer the property from the city to a building commission. The building commission will be able to issue the lease, whereas the city would not have the power to do that, Boroff said.
Boroff also requested that the dock be leased to WVU for $9,000 per year for the next 10 years in order to get the construction cost back. In addition two other leases will be issued by the building commission, one to the restaurant that will go in the marina and the other to BOPARC for the docks.
The Morgantown City Council is now taking the steps to transfer the property to the building commission. At Tuesday's City Council Committee of the Whole meeting, council agreed to move the issue to the agenda, where it will be voted on during the Dec. 5 meeting.
Boroff said that the new facility will enhance the economic development of the area by creating new jobs and will be an interesting architectural piece.
All in all, it will be a very striing piece for the city of Morgantown," Boroff said.