LEWISBURG, W.Va. (WVDN) – At the April meeting of the Lewisburg City Council, there were many items of regular business that were addressed; however, there was emphasis through discussion about a couple of underlying issues in the city.
A special-use permit for 163 Randolph Street for a three-bedroom Airbnb was voted approved, and discussion about the length of time the Airbnb had been in operation before a permit was requested set off discussion in many areas.
Lewisburg Police Chief Chris Teubert stated that there are some calls to the police by neighbors with complaints in connection with clients staying at these rental properties. The rental is made online, and there have been instances where the name used for the rental was not the name of the renter.
Teubert said also that he has come upon the same renter across town, as they might be staying longer and renting a second house to extend their stay.
Councilmember John Little spoke about the need for all these rental locations to have a business license. This is a requirement, and since the beginning of January 2023, the agencies managing these properties have been required to charge the bed tax and surrender it to the city, which has exposed more units operating than were known and which need to have a business license.
Little also stated there is a “strain on housing, and for this reason, we should be doing more and take a deeper look at this before the comprehensive plan can be completed.” He said he was sure that somewhere in the country, this issue of competition between home rentals/sales and temporary housing through Airbnb has been discovered and a solution found.
The other issue of note was in the report of the City Manager Misty Hill, who stated that the public attitudes toward the contractors working on the water project under the Greenbrier River Trail have caused a few incidents.
There has been evidence of people using the closed portion of the trail on the weekends and even damaging the silt fencing along the river to open spaces to cross through, she said.
These silt fences are required by law, and their repair must be done immediately before the work can continue on the water line installation.
This activity is costly and can slow down the work. Hill said, “Right now, we are still looking at mid-summer for opening the trail” between Caldwell and Hopper Road.
There have been a few other incidents along Dwyer Lane, as well, she said, resulting in one employee being intimidated so much he left his job. The work is going as quickly as possible, and the work hours have been adjusted to accommodate school bus travel times and even opening day for the youth baseball, Hill said.
In other business of the City Council, Ordinance 317 to update the codified ordinance was passed. Additionally, Ordinance 318 to amend the floodplain ordinance received first reading.
Resolution 514, Water System Improvement pay request No. 10, paid out $2,537,839.92 to many vendors involved — the list of payees is over 10 pages long with the details available at the City Hall.
Resolution 513 was passed by the building commission just before the City Council meeting, paying on the public works’ building project $537,750. “This is part of the expense of preparing the grade at the building location,” Hill said.
Arbor Day, April 28, was proclaimed by Mayor Beverly White. She said in her proclamation that trees provide habitat for wildlife and enhance the environment for people and cities.
Proclamations were also made for April 17-23 as Osteopathic Medicine Week, for the month of April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Children’s Memorial Flag Day on April 28 with a ceremony to be held in front of the Greenbrier County Courthouse.
The city council voted to Lay the Levy as Class 1 – $12.50, Class 2 – $25.00 and Class 4 – $50.00 with access levy for those same classes. The public will vote on this levy action at the June election. Hill said these levy funds support city law enforcement, fire department and street maintenance.
With regard to the upcoming June 13 municipal election, the city clerk requested the council vote to allow her to appoint an alternate for the polling and early voting. The council approved for her to appoint alternate poll workers to fill vacancies if regular workers were absent.
In a report from the city law enforcement, Teubert said he wanted to clarify his report to council that there had been 142 traffic stops. He said these reported “stops” are not all ticketing offenses, as some were warnings. So actually, the number of tickets was 36, he said.
Two requests were made of the Arts and Humanities Fund. The Lewisburg Literary Festival was approved to receive $8,000, and the Greenbrier County Chorale Inc. was approved for its requested $1,500.
There was a citizen comment made by one attendee that ended up being quite a presentation. Mac McIntire presented his mobility course mockup to the Council and explained his interest in handicap accessibility issues.
McIntire said that Lewisburg already had many businesses that had made their structures accessible, and he is pleased to see so many are aware of the need. He told his personal story of having been handicapped and wheelchair bound for a very short time; he became injured by breaking his neck.
McIntire said, “West Virginia is all hills. To be handicap compliant is a goal too difficult to reach for many of our attractions. You just cannot amend all the trails, white water or off level buildings, but often you can make them handicap accessible if you just broaden your thoughts.”
The mobility course had several types of surfaces (grass, mulch, pavement) and opportunities through openings for the person to exit the course as they completed their level of capability.
The mayor and Council thanked McIntire for his enlightening presentation and also recommended he go to the Lewisburg Downtown Business Association meeting and give his suggestions on accessibility and encouragement to the business owners that way.
