Seitz Says Downtown TIF Plan Remains Too Vague

By CASEY JUNKINS
WHEELING — The Rev. Mark Seitz believes City Council’s $8 million Tax Increment Financing plan is too vague for citizens to support. But Mayor Nick Sparachane believes the city needs to take a chance on the project.

“You are planning to allocate serious money without a real plan of what to do with it,” Seitz told council members Tuesday during a meeting where members voted 7-0 to adopt the project plan to refurbish the Capitol Music Hall and demolish a series of buildings in the 1100 block of Main and Market streets.

“If you had a developer in place for the 1100 block, I would be here to applaud you. But you have to keep in mind that the taxpayers of the city will have to pay this money back if things don’t go well,” Seitz told council.

Seitz, pastor of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Wheeling, ran for the 5th Ward council seat during the May primary and was defeated.

Citing previous TIF projects that he deemed “successful” involving the Stone Center and Lowe’s, Sparachane said the city needs to move forward with the current plan.

“We need to take chances on these kinds of things,” Sparachane said.

City Manager Robert Herron previously said the current council will not be spending any of the TIF money because the council taking office July 1 will have to issue the TIF bonds to have the money at its disposal.

Sparachane, Vice Mayor Mike Nau, and Councilmen Barry Crow and Brent Bush will depart council July 1. They will be replaced by Mayor-elect Andy McKenzie, as well as Councilmen-elect James Tiu, Eugene T. Fahey and Don Atkinson who will join returning Councilmen Vernon Seals and Robert “Herk” Henry and Councilwoman Gloria Delbrugge.

To perform Phase I of the Wheeling 2020 Plan, current council members want to use $2.5 million in TIF to purchase and demolish the former G.C. Murphy building, the former Downtown Wheeling Antiques building, Dr. Manny Velez’s dental office and former Feet First building, the River City Dance Works building and the former Rite Aid building in the 1100 blocks of Main and Market streets.

The artist’s rendering of the Wheeling 2020 Plan shows the area of the 1100 block cleared and prepared for future development.

Another $2.5 million would be used for the renovation and rehabilitation of the Capitol if the city, the Wheeling National Heritage Area Corp., the Wheeling Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Regional Economic Development Partnership can purchase the venue.

Later in the meeting, Warwood resident Donald Bartholomew told members of council that he supports police Chief Kevin Gessler’s efforts to rescind the city’s two-man cruiser ordinance.

“As a council, you should vote to put this on the ballot to let the people decide if they still want the mandatory two-man cruiser ordinance,” he said.

Members did not respond to Bartholomew, but Delbrugge, Seals and Henry have consistently expressed their desire to keep the ordinance on the books.