CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Over $56,000 was appropriated during a Tuesday Kanawha County Commission meeting.

Commissioners approved Advantage Valley’s request of $12,000 to pay for a residential site assessment by Moonlight engineering. Advantage Valley is an economic development organization trying to tackle both the housing crisis and the statewide childcare crisis.

Natalie Tennant

The funds will go towards getting an engineer to analyze sites in the county that are suitable for residential development.

Kanawha County Commissioner Natalie Tennant says this needs to be done to help development in Kanawha County.

“I just think it’s our next step and it’s something we need to be doing right now,” Tennant said Tuesday. “If we’re going to talk about what a crisis we’re in and how difficult it is, we have to move forward and take the first step. We’re doing that through this $12,000.

Tennant also said that Advantage Valley will be using the study to help educate other developers regarding the need for residential construction.

Commissioner Lance Wheeler says part of the reason for the current housing crisis is due to the lack of development and full reliance on existing homes.

Lance Wheeler

“Homes today are significantly more than they were before the pandemic, and a bit issue to that is there’s no new construction. There’s no new supply of homes coming onto the market, and so buyers are being restricted to what is being sold by sellers currently, which then becomes a problem of that seller trying to find a home at that point,” Wheeler said. “That’s driving up a lot of these prices for existing homes, making it difficult for individuals to purchase a home today.”

Wheeler mentioned that some of the unincorporated areas in the county with more undeveloped land residing close to utilities will be part of the study.

During Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners also approved over $44,000 to go to the town of Cedar Grove. The funds will be used for concrete at the town’s baseball field concourse area.

The area around the field, which was built in 2000, currently has mostly gravel walkways to access stands, restrooms, and the concession stand.