Proposed Greenbag Road project would affect community garden

Morgantown, W.Va (WDTV) - Monongalia County is currently working on adding two new roundabouts in Morgantown in a way that they say will improve street conditions. Stephan Cole, a local farmer, says that one of the proposed roundabouts on Greenbag Road and Kingwood Pike would be devastating to the local farming community.

“We don’t want it because it’s going to steal from that farm and this farm,” said Cole. “Everything that you see is not going to be normal, ever.”

Bill Austin, Executive Director at Morgantown Metropolitan Planning Organization, says that these roundabouts can be a big help to the community and will keep people safer.

“Roundabouts are a much safer travel alternative than traffic signals,” said Austin. “When you have an incident in a roundabout, it’s typically either a rear end or a sideswipe. they [roundabouts] also much more efficient.”

But Cole says that the multi-million dollar project would ultimately be worse for the local community. As a side effect of installing the roundabouts, the Conscious Harvest Cooperative Garden would be destroyed. Cole says that in turn, those experiencing homelessness could be affected as well due to the fact the community garden donates what they grow to those in need. Cole says what’s really important is to keep these local farms and gardens alive.

“You got family that still wants to keep this and keep going with it,” said Cole. “All the farms are going away now. They’re buying them out, they’re selling them out, you need to keep what you got.”

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