Planners ponder action about salvage yard

County Planner Alma Gorse told the Morgan County Planning Commission that she and Barbara Abe of the West Virginia Division of Highways had inspected the property of Robert Summers in the southern part of the county on July 23 and found five remaining salvage vehicles and miscellaneous scrap and parts.

Gorse gave her report at the July 24 meeting.

Planners had previously ordered Summers, who had approximately 30 unlicensed vehicles on his property in violation of both state and county salvage yard regulations, to remove the vehicles from his lot at the May 22 meeting.

At the June 26 meeting, Summers said 18 vehicles had been removed from the property and asked for a time extension. Planners gave Summers until the meeting on July 24 to remove the remaining vehicles. He was told an inspection by Gorse and Abe would be performed prior to the July meeting.
After a brief discussion, planners agreed the violation still existed and voted to take action on the violation after consulting with the county’s prosecuting attorney and Abe.

The Planning Commission will either support the state’s legal filing or institute the filing on their own based on the outcome of the consultations.

Summers did state that he intends to continue to remove the remaining salvage vehicles and does not plan to return any unlicensed vehicles to the property.

Subdivision time extension
The Planning Commission approved a waiver request for a time extension to submit the preliminary plat for phase one of the five phase Creekside Village (Sleepy Creek) subdivision.

The extension is valid until July 1, 2013.

Stormwater management
Richard Parks of Arro Consulting discussed with planners various options to consider concerning possible amendments to the county’s Stormwater Management regulations.

Parks is developing a proposal and slide presentation under a Chesapeake Bay Accountability Grant to determine what best management practices need to added to the stormwater regulations in order to bring them into compliance with the Chesapeake Bay Initiative and West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s Watershed Implementation Plan.

Once the proposal is completed by Parks, two public meetings will be scheduled to present and receive public comment on the proposal.

Marcellus Shale report
Jim Hoyt, who sits on both the Planning Commission and the Morgan County Marcellus Share Subcommittee, reported the subcommittee submitted the preliminary report to the Morgan County Commission on July 5.

He said the subcommittee is considering several amendments to the report and discussing various ways, including a possible slide show, to get the information out to the public.

A copy of the report is available at the county planning office.

Watershed assessment
Kate Lehman of the Warm Springs Watershed Association told planners a watershed assessment of Warm Springs Run was recently completed by Robert Denton of GeoConcepts Engineering, Inc.

The assessment suggests projects to help improve the stream and sets priorities for the projects.

Lehman said the association is in the process of forming partnerships with organizations to assist with the implementation of the recommended projects and is looking into grants for funding.