The Clarksburg Chamber of Commerce is back after an eight-year absence; its new leaders say business owners needed a voice in area development.
President Patrick Darby said the organization, founded in 1954, put its activity “on hold” in 1999 because there weren’t enough active members.
“At that point there weren’t that many businesses in Clarksburg,” Darby said. “The still active members were retiring or being bought up by developers and leadership felt there weren’t enough active members still participating.”
The group held its first meeting since 1999 on Thursday night. According to Darby the group has about 15 members.
“Our goal is hundreds,” Darby said. “We’re getting more and more people every day contacting us.”
Darby said the group wants business to have a voice in the county when discussions occur with developers.
“When the housing boom was going on, they were building things quickly and a lot of things went badly as far as violations,” Darby said. “Businesses were never consulted about development. A lot of things that were promised the community never materialized.”
The findings earlier this year of serious zoning violations in several burgeoning Clarksburg communities came as a wake-up call to planning experts, who have since toughened developers’ requirements in response.
Now, the Department of Permitting Services inspects projects under construction twice a month to ensure structures are in compliance with county code.
According to plans for Clarksburg, the district is designed to be transit- and pedestrian-friendly, with neighborhoods surrounded by open space and a combination of commercial and residential spaces located atop storefronts in the featured Town Center portion.
Darby said some of the group’s top priorities include getting street lamps and a sewer system installed in Clarksburg’s historic district and helping retail stores get improved parking and access to main roads.
“We thought it was a perfect time to get our voice into this to help promote the community and the businesses as a combined force for prosperity,” Darby said. “We’re turning this into a positive thing and trying to make it work for everybody.”
