City of Bluefield says DEP funds can be used for city owned demolitions

BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (WVVA) - The code official with the city of Bluefield says the city can use the $1.5 million in funding from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection to tear down city owned buildings that can qualify as condemnable. We asked the city’s code official if this is something they could do because we received the question from a viewer.

The viewer saw our coverage of the demolition of the Long John Silver’s building and an adjacent home owned by the city. They weren’t sure whether or not the city could use the state funds to demolish buildings they owned.

The city’s code official says as long as they follow the required protocol from the DEP and get other necessary paperwork done then they can tear city owned buildings down using the funds.

“We still have to do everything that the DEP requires. We have to test the asbestos on it. We have to do everything other than send the owner a notice because the city is the owner of it,” said Code Official, Alex Ellison.

Ellison says that the house is the only one that the city owns that’s being torn down.

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