Murphy’s Law says; “whatever can go wrong – will go wrong.” On or around August 14, our Virginia neighbors in the town of Monterey were under a state of emergency after their municipal water system began to go dry. As water pressure waned, pressure intensified on public officials to fix the problem. Eventually the town lost service entirely as the system was shut down for emergency repairs. Firefighters were especially nervous about what would happen if they were faced with a fire. State officials from the health department and other agencies met in the town office and contacted Roanoke Pump to work on the municipal well along U.S. 220, while businesses scrambled with emergency plans, due to the water outage. I bring this up only to point out that such an event can and does happen. This is the type of situation that no municipality ever wants to find itself in. Unfortunately, even with the best of plans, things happen. But, we/The Town of Marlinton, must do all we can to counter any such experience here. Opera House lot More than two years of committee meetings has produced a preliminary vision for the vacant lot beside the Opera House. An outdoor stage/amphitheater type structure will be the primary feature. Other individual features will be included. Now, to move this collective vision to a design phase, The Landscape Architecture Program School of Design and Community Development is coming from West Virginia University to Marlinton September 15. The public is invited to attend. This is the design team that created the Tomblin Plaza at the main entrance to the West Virginia State Fairgrounds. The team looks forward to collaborating on this significant project and it is committed to developing a phased plan for the project in order to develop proposals that will be appropriate for grants to support implementation. While the design of the plaza is not yet complete, the design charrette (as facilitated by WVU Extension) and community engagement is a proven tool for determining the best use of remnant public spaces and is appropriate for the revitalization of this site. The final design, as produced through collaboration with stakeholders and the work of WVU students will reflect local stakeholder values and the goals and objectives as described by the Secure Rural Schools grant. For your information, a Grant application was submitted at end of August for this particular project. A follow-up personal presentation was made at a September 7 meeting at the USFS building in Elkins. The committee hopes to hear the final outcome of the presentation by the first of October.
