Commission directs PSD to keep Sharp Farm off the table

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="04b085a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>The Historic Sharp Farm's Preservation Blog</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Historic Sharp Farms Preservation Bl"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id81_m.html" TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="Commission directs PSD to keep Sharp Far"><U><B><IMG SRC="03b0e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="up" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>   </B><A HREF="id19.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chronos"><U><B><IMG SRC="03e0e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="down" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>     </B><A HREF="id79.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Sharp Farm Is Saved"><U><B><IMG SRC="02f0e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="previous" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  </B><A HREF="id91.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Comprehensive Watershed Plan"><U><B><IMG SRC="0300e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="next" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="04cd2e83.jpg"> <div> <A HREF="id87.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Challenges of 2005 2008 Eminent Domain "><U>Return To Challenges Log</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="04d07073.jpg"> <div> <I>Commission directs PSD to keep Sharp Farm off the table</I></div> <div> Thursday March 6, 2008 </div> <div> The Pocahontas Times</div> <div>  </div> <div> By Pam Pritt, Editor </div> <bR> <div> Nearly three years to the day after Tom Shipley first came to a county commission meeting to ask them not to use his family’s property, commissioners voted to grant his wish Tuesday. </div> <bR> <div> In a resolution hashed out for more than an hour, the commission voted unanimously to resolve and direct the Pocahontas County Public Service District that there “shall be no use of the Sharp Farm” for the Slaty Fork Wastewater Treatment Plant. The commission further directed the PSD to avoid eminent domain when proceeding with site selection for the embattled plant. </div> <bR> <div> Commission president James Carpenter and commissioner Reta Griffith maintained the directive had “no teeth” and that the PSD could refuse to comply. Commissioner Martin Saffer said if they didn’t, the commission could sue the PSD. </div> <bR> <div> “I’m so relieved, so happy,” Shipley said. “We want a solution for the community and we know there’s one out there. We are so thankful and grateful to everyone who supported us from the regular folks up to Washington, DC. </div> <bR> <div> “We will never be able to pay the goodwill and support we’ve received.” </div> <bR> <div> Last week, Carpenter annoUnced at a PSD meeting that three sites are now in the running for the plant; however, PSD attorney Tom Michael said he could not unequivocally say the plant would not go on the Sharp Farm, but that he had been directed to look elsewhere for a location. </div> <bR> <div> That prompted Saffer to put eminent domain on the commission’s agenda this week. </div> <bR> <div> He called eminent domain the “hottest poker in the fire,” suggesting that if the issue were off the table, discussion could move forward about a workable solution for the problem. </div> <bR> <div> Carpenter said he believed the PSD is moving in that direction without orders from the commission. </div> <div> “I’m real happy Snowshoe stepped up to the plate,” Carpenter said. “I don’t believe the Sharp Farm will have to be used.” </div> <bR> <div> The resort owns two of the proposed properties for the plant, including one along U.S. Rt. 219 and another off Rt. 66. The third property belongs to the State of West Virginia. </div> <bR> <div> Griffith agreed with Carpenter that the PSD seemed to be moving in that direction anyway. </div> <div> “My position is to support the PSD,” she said. “Their direction is what the Sharp Family wants” </div> <div> Shipley said as much and said he was grateful for the new direction the PSD and the commission were taking. </div> <bR> <div> “My family supports a regional solution to our wastewater need,” he said. “We beg you humbly, respectfully, please take us out of this misery.” </div> <bR> <div> Shipley and his family have spent nearly every day since March 5, 2005, pointing out problems with the site on their farm including karst topography, the accompanying cave system that transports groundwater and that the receiving stream is dry for a portion of the year. </div> <bR> <div> Commissioners offered each other hypothetical situations and analyses of Snowshoe’s existing treatment plant for the emotional forerunner of the resolution. </div> <bR> <div> Carpenter said all three are moving toward the same goal, but have taken different approaches. </div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>