CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A bill letting state government take the lead on big tourism projects in small towns.is primed for consideration by the full House of Delegates. It has passed the Senate already.
“I’m very heartened,” said Karen Schaufeld, CEO of SWaN Hill Top House, a $139 million project in Harpers Ferry that would be affected. “It’s an exciting time and I look forward to it being voted on fully.”
Meanwhile, town council in Harpers Ferry — most likely to be affected by the bill — has scheduled a special meeting for Thursday to discuss the “legality and constitutionality” of the bill.
So these two sides are on a collision course this week.
Contacted by telephone on Tuesday morning, Harpers Ferry Mayor Wayne Bishop said town officials are considering their legal options.
“The legislation itself, we have good advice from our legal counsel — who doesn’t have a dog in a fight regarding anything to do with a hotel or any of that stuff, but merely good advice regarding these bills — that they are unlawful and unconstitutional in the state of West Virginia,” Bishop said.
“That’s my opinion on it, and I think that will be the council’s position. You look at it and take advice about what we need to do going forward.”
Bishop said town officials may also be willing to accept a mediation approach to the Hill Top House project that has been under discussion for more than a decade.
Across the state at the Legislature, the House Finance Committee on Tuesday morning unanimously passed the “Tourism Development Districts” bill.
That means the bill could be read for a first time on the House floor on Wednesday and — possibly — passed by the end of the week.
The act would enable the state Development Office to spearhead a project under certain conditions.
The bill would apply to Class IV municipalities of fewer than 2,000 residents. And it would apply to projects with investments of more than $25 million, in historic districts and qualifying for state tourism tax credits, which have their own requirements.
The affected municipalities would retain their local tax base.
The discussion in House Finance was an explanation of the bill followed by a few questions about how it would work.
The project most immediately affected would be Hill Top House, a historic property that was purchased by developers including Karen and Fred Schaufeld in 2007
The hangups on the project have been over how Hill Top House would interweave with the town’s zoning and the residential neighborhood where it is situated. For example, Hill Top House developers have wanted to buy and alter some public streets running through the hotel property.
Karen Schaufeld was among those who watched the House Finance Committee. In a hallway interview following the meeting, the Leesburg, Va., resident said she was pleased by the bill’s overwhelming passage.
“It was a unanimous vote, so that was wonderful,” Schaufeld said. “Everyone I’ve encountered here has really understood the logic, the rationality around taking a historically-sensitive project like this, fashioned with all of the input from people in the town and understood this was an important thing to happen in Harpers Ferry and in the surrounding areas.”
Asked about possible legal action by the town council, Schaufeld noted that the town’s council election remains unsettled — and headed for a Supreme Court hearing — months after residents first voted last summer.
“We’ve tried to go through the steps right. We tried to work with the town. We tried to do everything we could do to be as participatory in the process as we could,” she said.
“And I can’t speak to what they’re planning to do. I just know the will of the people is already being thwarted because the votes have not been fully counted. The town council that, I guess, may or may not decide to take some legal action is going to be taking a vote with members who may or may not be the right people sitting in those chairs.”
The bill moving through the House of Delegates has heavy sponsorship by legislators representing the Eastern Panhandle.
Delegate Jason Barrett, D-Berkeley, said the bill has overwhelming support in the Legislature.
“This is a bill for tourism in West Virginia. If we’re going to be successful as a state moving forward we have to give as many tourism opportunities as we can,” Barrett said.
“I think this bill is aimed at helping the Hill Top House in Harpers Ferry. The Town of Harpers Ferry — and specifically the mayor and town council — they have demonstrated this project is too big for them to handle. I think there are personal reasons as to why the project hasn’t gone forward, and I think it’s the state’s obligation to step in when we see something like that going on.”