After the loss of the Sunset Ellis Restaurant and Drive In Theater, the Harrison County Commission saw an opportunity to create a complex for various county entities in a convenient location. First and foremost, the structures planned for placement there include an animal control facility and livestock show barn. After purchase, Commissioners and other officials have had to slog through the typical maze of regulations and laws that govern land use at both the federal and state level.
In the last meeting of July, Harrison County Commission President Susan Thomas and Commissioner David Hinkle heard an update from firms helping to plan and manage County development of the approximately 40 acres acquired. Commissioner Patsy Trecost was absent for this meeting.
Commissioners heard from representatives of Civil and Environmental Consultants and McKinley as they discussed obstacles.
The companies’ representatives shared some important issues and uncertainties that the Commission will have to address as it moves forward to develop the property. It had earlier moved the location of the proposed animal control facility and livestock show barn from another part of the county to the Ellis property acquired this year.
Since then, Commissioners have discussed – and at times debated – the utility of adding other events and attractions. This included restoring the flea market offered by the previous owners of the property.
One of the important potential issues lies in the streams and wetland areas on the property. Hinkle noted in looking at plans that “they’ve done the environmental work. You can see the streams and wetlands up there. There are issues that will have to be taken to the (Army) Corps of Engineers.”
Lands containing wetlands and streams must receive special care. One reason lies in the fact that disruption of large enough areas of natural water can lead to flooding during major storms if flowing water has nowhere to safely empty.
The question lies in what federal and state officials will consider “jurisdictional,” in other words, which areas would the federal, state, and local governments have jurisdiction. The United States Environmental Protection Agency’s 1970s era legal definition of wetlands is “areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal situations do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions.”
Wetlands, streams, and other waterways fall under the authority of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. According to its website, the Corps “is responsible for protecting many of the nation’s aquatic environments, including rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, and wetlands.” Authority to administer regulations, make decisions, and issue permits in situations such as the one involving the Ellis property comes under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.
In situations where the federal government assumes jurisdiction, State agencies generally defer to it. Areas of some, but less potential impact, will fall under the authority of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. Harrison County hopes that the “wetlands” have such slight impact that they would need to deal with neither. That said, company representatives urged the Commission to open the permitting application process as quickly as possible.
Activities requiring permitting include “grading or mechanized land clearing of wetlands,” which lead to the other major subject of discussion, how to move land to create one or more “pads” upon which the proposed structures would be built. In any event, evaluation of the site and permitting will remain “a long process.”
The companies represented offered options to the Commission, including one that featured two smaller pads and one larger that would accompany both buildings. The question came up over the plans created for the animal control facility when it was slated for a different location. Hinkle stated that the “base drawing that we have is out the window” because those plans were site-specific.
One of the most important steps in the near future lies in adopting a site master plan. This could also include at some point, as Hinkle floated, the relocation of the County Parks and Recreation office, the Harrison County West Virginia University Extension Office and perhaps other agencies for whom it would make sense to go there. “You can get rid of the extension office building, sell it, move it to where the livestock building will be,” said Hinkle.
Commissioners voted to approve a proposal for a master plan as well as a feasibility study conducted by McKinley.
