Morgantown BZA grants variances and conditional-use permits for WVU Eye Institute and shared parking garage

The City of Morgantown Board of Zoning Appeals on an evening meeting approved four variances and two conditional uses requested by West Virginia University Hospitals Inc. to allow construction of a WVU Eye Institute and an adjacent six-level shared parking garage at parcels listed on tax map 6 in the Seventh Ward.

The approvals cover variance relief from setback standards (VAR25-006 and VAR25-007), a reduction in required loading spaces (VAR25-008), and relief from long-term bicycle-storage requirements (VAR25-009), plus conditional-use approvals for a shared parking facility and an off-site parking arrangement (CON25-010 and CON25-011). The board accepted staff findings of fact for each item and voted to grant all requests; the approvals carry a single recurring condition that any substantive changes to the approved site plan must return to the board for additional review or variance relief.

Board staff and the applicant told the board the project is an approximately six-acre development with a cited site area of about 256,645 square feet. Jeff Gola, the lead civil site engineer with Thrasher Group representing the applicant, described the building program: exam and testing rooms and support spaces on the first and second floors, an operating…