Parkersburg URA packet lists three petitions to sell city parcels for housing and a bake shop

The City of Parkersburg Urban Renewal Authority’s March 26, 2024 meeting packet includes three petitions to sell URA-owned parcels in Parkersburg for residential yard extensions and a commercial bake shop.

According to staff reports in the packet, applicant William Leon Lockhart seeks to buy parcel 5-77-254 at 903 E. 12th Street to combine with his adjacent lot and provide additional yard space and off-street parking for a new residential unit. The staff summary lists an applicant bid of $200 for the 1,851-square-foot lot and notes the Planning Division supports the sale as consistent with City housing recommendations and the Parkersburg 2030 Comprehensive Plan. The application materials filed by Lockhart, however, also include an entry that lists an estimated fair-market value and a proposed purchase price of $220,000; the packet does not reconcile those two figures.

Applicant Cecilia Galluccio applied to buy parcel 5-72-104 at 1627 Park Avenue, a 4,830-square-foot lot the packet says the URA acquired through eminent domain in 2023. Galluccio’s application states she lives next door at 1629 Park Avenue and wants additional backyard space for younger relatives and a pet; the packet lists a bid of $1,000. The Planning Division’s staff comment supports the sale as a modest infill that would enhance an existing residence in a Traditional Small Block Neighborhood.

A third petition comes from Wayne Waldeck of Wal-Bon Inc., who offered $25,600 for three contiguous parcels (5-62-52/53/53A) at the corner of 19th Street and St. Mary’s Avenue. The packet identifies the combined parcel as about 12,750 square feet in a B-2 general business district and says Waldeck proposes constructing a McHappy’s Bake Shoppe. The Planning Division recommends the application because the site sits within the St. Mary’s/Dudley Avenue Redevelopment Corridor, which the city’s 2030 plan identifies as a priority for reinvestment.

All three staff reports cite the 2030 Comprehensive Plan’s guidance for focused redevelopment, infill, and additions to residential capacity along redevelopment corridors. The packet materials do not record any final URA votes or approvals; they present the applications, maps, site photos, and the applicants’ forms for consideration at the March 26 meeting.

The staff packet includes some incomplete or inconsistent entries (for example, the Lockhart materials show both a $200 bid in the staff summary and a $220,000 figure in the application). The packet also notes that certain financing, design, and site-specific details for the Waldeck proposal were listed as "unknown" pending a site plan and further review.

The URA agenda places these three items before the board for consideration; the packet lists staff support for each application but does not indicate whether the board took final action in the March 26 meeting materials.