Charleston City Council advances bill for West Side rezoning

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was updated at 4:26 p.m. on 8/20/2026, to include additional information regarding rezoning on Charleston’s West Side.

Charleston City Council members were off to a swift start with bill discussions during their Aug. 17 meeting. 

Up first was a bill to create a voluntary public safety program for local businesses. Participation would allow the Charleston Police Department to handle any form of trespassing on the property.

“This is a voluntary program, brought to me by one of our officers, that will provide them a new tool to deal with trespassing across the city,” said Councilmember Chad Robinson.

Next, the council discussed a bill to rezone a plot of land on the West Side of Charleston from residential, to commercial.  

“There is a gentleman that has been buying up some of the parcels in this area,” said the city’s Director of Planning, Dan Vriendt. “There are three parcels on the corner that he purchased a number of years ago. He rezoned those from residential to commercial. Now he has had a chance to acquire three additional properties, and now he is wanting to combine all six of those parcels.”

“There’s commercial [property] on three sides of the property already, so this is kinda just filling in a hole,” Vriendt continued, noting that the parcel of land in question is located at the corner of Patrick Street and 5th Avenue. “It’s near where Kemp Avenue is. This is across the street from Schoenbaum Center.”

Several councilmembers spoke out with concerns about the reasoning behind the rezoning and its potential effect on housing security.

The West Side of Charleston is well over one-third Black or mixed race. And the particular area being discussed has one of the most dense Black populations in the city. West Side residents also have a significantly higher poverty rate than the state average.

“Those folks down there, the few that are left, are we just going to push them out?” Councilmember Jeanine Faegre said, although she ultimately voted for the bill, which passed unanimously. 

Next, the council approved a resolution to reimburse a coordinator’s salary and overtime pay for law enforcement officers. This is an annual application that gets submitted to West Virginia’s Governor’s Highway Safety Program on behalf of the Charleston Police Department and law enforcement agencies in eight counties. This year, the resolution requested a  $605,000 reimbursement.

The council also authorized the city to purchase $52,000 of playground equipment for four parks: North Charleston, Coal Branch, Vandalia, and Sugar Creek. Another $429,375.60  purchase was approved for two refuse packer trucks. These two new trucks will be replacing others that are currently in the City of Charleston’s Refuse Department rotation. 

And to replace a regularly rotated street sweeper in the City of Charleston, a $303,815.15 purchase was approved. Following those approvals, new bills were introduced and referred to the correct committees. These included a bill to make roll call the main method of voting, as well as bills requiring decorum and time limitations for public speakers during council meetings.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Mayor Amy Goodwin took a brief moment to discuss the torrential downpours of rain that Charleston and surrounding areas have been experiencing. She expressed much gratitude for the council, the city’s Public Works Department, police, and fire departments, even taking a moment to brag on a city worker who jumped from his truck to save the life of another citizen.

“I am so incredibly proud to stand here in muddy boots and a T-shirt, to say we have the best people. You all know that, but it’s always worth repeating,” she said. 

The City of Charleston declared a state of emergency on Monday due to severe flooding in the area.