Our community is facing a massive, unpermitted commercial development right against our residential property lines. The City of Mount Hope has already cleared 8 parcels of land in Bailey's Bottom and is planning a phased expansion to cram a 60-parcel commercial campground, a concrete splash pad, and a bathhouse into a high-risk flood zone.
This development is flatly against the law. The West Virginia Flood Tool confirms this land was acquired through a FEMA Hazard Mitigation Buyout program, meaning it is legally bound by permanent federal deed restrictions (44 CFR Part 80) to remain open space forever.
While the city is attempting to disguise this project as a community asset by including a splash pad, the actual footprint is a heavy commercial enterprise. If we let the city push this through, it will have devastating consequences for our town:
Severe Neighborhood Flood Risks: Forcing 60 lots of gravel, access roads, and heavy vehicles into a regulatory Zone AE 100-Year Floodplain strips the soil of its natural ability to absorb water, displacing future floodwaters directly into adjacent yards and basements.
Illegal Infrastructure in a Floodway: A splash pad and an RV park cannot function without extensive, permanent utility modifications. The city will be forced to dig deep trenches to run pressurized water lines, electrical pedestals, and chemical water filtration systems through 60 plots, directly violating federal restrictions against placing underground utility networks inside buyout land.
Environmental & Health Concerns: Staging a dense commercial campground and running plumbing infrastructure directly inside a high-risk flood zone poses major environmental risks. A severe flood event will wash out splash pad filtration chemicals and cause raw sewage to contaminate Dunloup Creek and surrounding residential properties.
Misallocated City Resources: Our local government is completely neglecting critical crime, theft, property destruction, and abandoned buildings on Main Street to focus precious resources on an unpermitted, illegal development in our backyards.
We are completely bypassing the local city council and sending this petition directly to Julia Sears, the West Virginia State Floodplain Coordinator, and the FEMA Mitigation Branch to trigger a state-level intervention. Mount Hope risking its federal funding threatens future disaster assistance for the entire state of West Virginia.
By signing this petition, you are demanding that the West Virginia Emergency Management Division and FEMA immediately enforce the permanent open-space deed restrictions on these parcels and halt all construction trucks in Bailey's Bottom.