BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. — Gov. Patrick Morrisey was on hand late last week to announce the allocation of two sizable funding awards to boost an existing park in Morgan County and a park under construction in South Berkeley County.
Cold Run Valley Park
On Friday, during a presentation in the Morgan County Commission Chambers, Governor Morrisey said $140,000 in funds have been made available for improvements at Cold Run Valley Park through the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
“We’re always looking for different ways to help local communities. And we know that clean, upgraded parks are great for families and communities. And so we were able to work with some of our grants to be able to help send $140,000 to this park,” Morrisey said. “All the counties of West Virginia need a boost from time to time. And so we’ve tried to be really effective at getting some of these grants to come in, national grants that are available or sometimes private sector grants. And we’ve had some success on that. But I know that from what they described, this is the beginning of an effort to really improve that park and let more people have access to it.”
Morgan County Commissioner Bill Clark said the funding will help with phase one of a project for the 16-acre near the existing Cold Run Valley Park that have not yet been developed. Matt Pennington is a board member for Morgan County Parks and Rec. He said the funding would go toward “safe access to an overused and underappreciated recreational facility in the south part of the county.
“Most of the park and rec programs have seen increases in participation from youth throughout the county. It shares an area on a heavily traveled roadway that separates a soccer complex with a softball and baseball complex. So we’re really excited to provide safe access for all of our community members, including the youth who play baseball and softball.”
Morgan County Commissioner Bill Clark elaborated on the plans. “There’s a phase one of a project for the 16 acres that’s not been developed yet. It’s adjoining a really busy fall complex, and it will provide this grant will provide a parking area, a safe parking area, that they can access those fields with on the 16 acres.” Commissioner Clark said it’s part of larger work that may be done in four or five phases before completion.
During Friday’s announcement in the Morgan County Commission chambers, the governor was joined by 89th District Delegate David Cannon (R – Hampshire, 089) . Also in attendance was Delegate George Miller, R-Morgan.
Cannon said the governor has been at work: “The governor just signed a check last week for another part of my district for Hampshire County Little League. They’re going to have an indoor facility for girls and boys, girls softball, boys’ Little League,” Cannon said, addressing the governor when he said, “It’s refreshing to see you think about the little things, to see an executive governor think about things like that.”
“And it’s not just thrown through his staff. When I got the letters and seen it was his real signature, I know he’s reading all these things personally,” said Delegate Cannon, who represents Hampshire County, as well as part of Morgan County.
Inwood Park
During an event Saturday at Poorhouse Farm Park, Morrissey announced $1.5 million for the Inwood Park, which is currently under construction in the south end of the county. He told the Panhandle News Network the funding, also from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, would “completely transform Inwood Park. This is pretty incredible because it’s going to be able to build a brand new amphitheater for community events, modern restrooms and state-of-the-art playgrounds. It’s going to give families a wonderful place to gather.”
Morrisey, who makes his home in Jefferson County when he’s not in Charleston said, “A lot of times people have looked at the Eastern Panhandle and they’ve been left out. I want to make sure that all parts of the state benefit when we have resources.”
Investing in The Eastern Panhandle
In his remarks Friday, Morrisey reflected on the beauty of the Mountain State.
“Before I moved to West Virginia, I used to come out to Berkeley Springs. I used to go hiking on the Appalachian Trail. I’d come to so many different parts of West Virginia and Morgan County was always high on the list. So it’s nice to be here again and spend a little bit of time with you, with the commissioners and others because we’re doing really good things for the state and I want to make sure that Eastern Panhandle never gets left behind.”
“Over the last week, we’ve had a number of big announcements. I won’t spend too much time on the big picture ones, the $96 billion of private sector investment.
“It’s projected to lead to over 19,000 jobs,” said Governor Morrisey.
“This week we announced some of our tourism has been very important. for the Eastern Panhandle, Jefferson, Berkeley, Morgan counties. And the state’s been investing heavily in tourism as well. We think it’s critical. We know that West Virginia is not just we think it’s the most beautiful state in the country. It’s getting independent validation from many articles and many journals that it is as well. Just two weeks ago West Virginia was listed by Travel and Leisure magazine to be the second most beautiful state in America and then I promptly got on the phone with New Hampshire governor and said we’re coming for you for number one.”
“I wanted to make sure folks know West Virginia is going to keep doing everything it can to rise and take advantage of tourism or natural beauty. We announced that just this past year we’ve had $9.4 billion of economic impact from tourism. That’s a lot. That represents over 61,000 jobs,” the governor said.
Referring to the funding to help with improvements at Cold Run Valley Park, the governor called it “good for the families of Morgan County. It could be parking. It could be streets. It could be so many different things. But we want to make sure that people continue to see West Virginia as the beautiful, amazing gem that it is. and certainly Morgan County plays a major role in that.”
“We all know about the big investment in terms of the physical infrastructure, the roads, and of course our state park here is incredible. A lot of great things happening there. I want to tell you that I’m committed to continually finding new ways to help the Eastern Panhandle and every county of the state grow.”
Governor Morrisey called it “a renewed focus on the fundamentals. This may be $140,000 but it’s a down payment on a better future for Morgan County and for the whole state.”