Kanawha County Commission will not hear Nitro annexation proposal this week

NITRO, W.Va. — Nitro city officials will not appear before the Kanawha County Commission this week to discuss an annexation proposal.

The Nitro City Council on Tuesday agreed to move the public hearing to a later date because of multiple factors, including a conflict of interest involving Nitro City Attorney Johnnie Brown.

The Kanawha County Commission was scheduled to take up the issue at its Thursday meeting.

Nitro officials want to annex around two miles of Lakeview Drive and Goff Mountain Road because of traffic around Nitro Marketplace, which they have argued affects commerce. City officials want to put Nitro police officers in problematic locations to address the issue.

No homes of businesses would be annexed into Nitro under the proposal, but many residents have been concerned about possible future actions.

During a public hearing on Nov. 13, a majority of the 140 attendees voiced opposition to the proposal. The Kanawha County Planning Commission that evening voted not to recommend the action to the Kanawha County Commission.

Nitro Mayor Dave Casebolt said Brown’s firm also does work for the county commission; the city has retained Harvey Peyton on the matter.

“He said he needed a couple of months to review the application and to get some evidence put together,” Casebolt said of Peyton. “The county commission was very generous, and we appreciate it to the people of Nitro to allow us the time to put all of this stuff together.”

Peyton will review the city’s application; he noted during the meeting he wants additional evidence, including comments made at the public hearing.

“He wanted to see if there was any recordings of the planning commission meeting that we had in Cross Lanes. Hopefully, he’ll be able to get that,” Casebolt said.

Peyton said a hearing will likely happen by early February.