City of Clarksburg asks Harrison County Schools for joint planning on vacant school properties

Dr. Shana Nicholson, director of community development for the City of Clarksburg, asked the Harrison County Board of Education on May 20 to open a dialogue and consider a joint work session to explore reuse or redevelopment of vacant school buildings rather than auctioning them to the highest bidder.

Nicholson told the board she has prepared a packet proposing possible reuse approaches and developers and said she has discussed the idea with the city's senior leadership and two council members. "I'm here tonight to request an open communication dialogue and potentially partnering with our land reuse agency, cooperatively to redevelop properties as opposed to auctioning them so they become community assets," she said.

The request focused on several named sites that Nicholson said have been vacant or have experienced repeated turnover, including Northview and Washington Irving (WI). She described examples she said show local benefits of redevelopment, including classrooms converted to small businesses, community event space and stabilized rental income. She also said the city is concerned about public-safety and remediation costs when buildings sit vacant: "The Genesis school ... cost us a hundred and $60,000 to demo and remediate after the school had burned," she said.

Board members asked for specifics before committing to a formal partnership. One board member said they supported conversation but would need to "see that the money was there and what people were gonna build and what they was gonna do" before endorsing a transfer or a plan. Another board member noted that the Land Reuse Agency (LRA) typically requires development plans, financial statements and deadlines, and said the city's LRA includes reverter clauses for properties that fail to make progress.

Nicholson said the city would not ask the school system to hand over property without due diligence and repeated that she was asking only for the opportunity to meet: "I'm not asking you to give me anything tonight other than the opportunity to have the leaders in our community meet and have an intelligent conversation about what the community they represent needs." The board did not take a vote on the request at the meeting; trustees said the item would need to be formally placed on an agenda for any action.

The board and city officials discussed options for involving parks and rec or the LRA for specific properties and noted complications such as parking, ownership history and prior fires at other vacant schools. Board members emphasized they would need concrete development proposals and funding assurances before approving transfers or long-term commitments.

Nicholson asked the board to schedule a joint work session with city council and senior leadership and offered to help organize developers and other city officials for that meeting. The board indicated interest in discussion but said no decisions were made at the May 20 meeting.