Welch tightens billboard and sign rules on city property

A sign on city-owned ground in Welch can now draw quick enforcement, and the same is true for storage buildings that drift into living space or business use. Under the city’s notices, billboards, signs, placards and notices are barred from city-owned or city-maintained property when they serve commercial or political purposes, signs in approved areas can stay up no longer than two weeks, and any violation can bring removal, five days of holding and then disposal.

For storefronts on McDowell County’s county seat and for residents who use yards, vacant lots and small lots near downtown, that matters immediately. Welch, home to 3,590 people in the 2020 census, has limited public space, and the city’s rules give officials a sharper tool for deciding what can appear along streets and on municipal property. Unsafe or condemned billboards must be removed within 30 days after notice, and violations can carry misdemeanor penalties and fines of at least $50 per day.

The city is also moving to put firmer limits around storage buildings. Copies of the proposed ordinance were available for public inspection beginning Feb. 23, and the city held a public hearing on March 16 at 4 p.m. at City Hall. The proposal would prohibit people from living, permanently or temporarily, or engaging in business in any structure designed primarily for storing personal property, and it includes size, placement and penalty provisions. In a place where outbuildings and small structures can easily blur the line between storage and everyday use, that shift could affect property owners well beyond the downtown core.

The next chance for the public to press city leaders on how those rules will be enforced comes at Welch City Hall on Monday, June 8 at 4 p.m. The council’s regular meeting date is the first Monday of each month, but there will be no meeting on June 1. West Virginia’s open meetings law requires those sessions to be public, making the June 8 meeting the city’s next formal checkpoint before the new rules take hold in daily code enforcement.

That same week, Welch is also running its general election and special excess levy election on Tuesday, June 9. Early voting runs from May 27 through June 6, with Saturday hours on May 30 and June 6 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and polls on election day are set for 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. The certified candidates listed by the city include Harold McBride, Sr., Kathy Gentry, Jeff Adkins, Brenda Farmer, Mike Day, Steve Ford and Brian Mowdy, putting city property rules, redevelopment standards and the levy question all in the same week of public decision-making.