BLUEFIELD -- Another round of demolitions will soon be getting underway in Bluefield.
The city advertised bids earlier this month for 25 additional structures that are targeted for demolition.
A legal advertisement seeking the demolition bids appeared in the Daily Telegraph on May 6. Those bids were expected back this week.
Bluefield City Manager Cecil Marson was asked recently about the planned demolitions. He said it was a continuation of the demolitions the city had been completing with state and federal funds.
"We reallocated funds to continue demolitions," Marson said. "It's the next 25 on the list. There is actually a lot more to come down."
The ongoing demolitions involve dilapidated structures that may pose a threat to public safety.
"You do them in phases," Marson said of the demolitions. "And historically it is between 25 to 30."
A similar demolition program is ongoing on the county level through the use of state funds from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. More than 300 dilapidated structures have been removed on the county level.
Mercer County's demolition program initially focused on the removal of unsafe structures across the county, but it was later extended to the municipalities of Athens, Bramwell and Oakvale.
In January 2024, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection awarded Mercer County a $750,000 grant for demolishing structures. The county had already spent a $1.5 million grant the state awarded it in 2023.
Residents living in the county, along with those in the towns of Athens, Bramwell and Oakvale, can still apply for demolition grants, but only $87,000 in demolition funds currently remains.
"I'm still taking applications but with absolutely no guarantee they will be selected," Mercer County Dilapidated Structures Officer Lori Mills said in an earlier interview. "We want to have extra applications on hand if we get extra funding. We may or may not be able to do them. We really won't know until July because July 31 is when we have to wrap everything up."
There is no current date for the start of the latest round of demolitions in Bluefield.
Marson said the contractor will start "pretty quickly" once a notice to proceed is issued by the city.