Published: March 18, 2007 01:27 am      

‘West Virginia Rising’

Fairmont-Southside group gets boost in revitalization effort

FAIRMONT — West Virginia is rising — with the assistance of a federal program.

Last week, 10 West Virginia cities, including Fairmont, and counties were designated as Blueprint Communities by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh. The designation entitles citizen groups within those communities to more than $20,000 worth of training to implement community-revitalization projects.

The 10 groups selected — out of a field of 26 Mountain State applicants — were announced during a Monday event in Charleston called “West Virginia Rising.” West Virginia musician Larry Groce presented an original song of the same name during the event.

“During the past two years, people from all walks of life have come together for the betterment of our state,” Gov. Joe Manchin said during Monday’s event. “(This) announcement of these 10 Blueprint Communities is just further proof that our state is moving in the right direction when it comes to economic development and planning for community growth.

“Small communities are the foundation of West Virginia, and I am confident that today’s announcement will help strengthen many areas across the state.”

In Fairmont, the Southside neighborhood group was awarded the Blueprint Community distinction. Members of the grass-roots effort are trying to bring new life to Fairmont’s Southside, which includes the 100 to 400 blocks of Fairmont Avenue and the surrounding residential areas.

For years, the area has suffered because of a lack of identity. Between the commercial Fairmont Avenue and the heart of the downtown, the mixed-use community has struggled to find its place.

After property and business owners in the area started to meet to discuss revitalizing the neighborhood, they connected with the West Virginia chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Through the AIA’s Livable Communities program, a study of the neighborhood returned a plan for redevelopment crafted through the cooperation of both groups.

It is the first Livable Communities project to be completed in the country, Main Street Fairmont program manager Vera Sansalone said.

With a plan in hand, the next step awaits. Sansalone said participating in the FHLB’s Blueprint Communities program could be just that.

Benefits of the program include:

• Five days of community revitalization training by the Heartland Center for Leadership Development and Brushy Fork Institute, materials, meals and lodging.

• A one-day housing capacity and technical training workshop.

• A community profile including important key indicators and trends for planning.

• A matching mini-grant for technical assistance, project implementation or predevelopment needs after successful involvement in training.

• Funding opportunities and strengthened relationships between community leaders and funding source representatives.

“I have gone away myself for personal training with Main Street, but this is the first time that I have seen an organization like the Federal Home Loan Bank that has actually reached out and volunteered in the community,” Sansalone said.

Eight people and one alternate have been chosen to participate in the training. In addition to Sansalone, other members include: Bob Gribben, associate director of the Fairmont Community Development Partnership; Cliff Jackson, a property owner in the Southside community; the Rev. D.D. Meighen, pastor at Central United Methodist Church; Jay Rogers, city planner; Sandra Scaffidi, an architectural historian; Kim Thorne, branch manager for First Exchange Bank; Fran Warner, a property and business owner; and Eileen Layman, finance director for the City of Fairmont.

“Of course, these people are not getting paid, but they are going to receive this training valued at 20,000,” Sansalone said.

“What is comes out to is they are offering us $20,000 of know-how,” Gribben said. “We hope to capitalize on their experiences, as well as what we can glean from our peers while we are down there in terms of things they have tried and worked, and have been successful at.”

Redevelopment of the Southside is vital to the similar efforts in downtown Fairmont, Gribben said.

“ It is a very important, strategically located neighborhood because it is a gateway and directly adjacent to downtown,” he said. “A lot of traffic flows this way north and south. It is very visible to visitors coming into the area, and it’s never had a strong identity as a neighborhood.

“So I guess one of our main objectives would be to inspire those people who are already invested here so that they will feel like the plan is going forward,” Gribben said. “Maybe in the past they have been hesitant in reinvesting in their properties, but they will now see that this is the time to start structuring some things up.”

Other West Virginia cities selected for the Blueprint Communities program include Ansted, Gilmer County, McDowell County, Mullens, Ritchie County, Salem, Shinnston, St. Albans and Williamson.

E-mail Misty Poe at mpoe@timeswv.com.