482-4418
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106 W WATER ST
edENTONNC 27932-1854
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
Planning Board backs permit for wind facility
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
The Chowan County Planning
Board recommended by a split
vote Wednesday that county com
missioners approve a conditional
use permit for the Umbermill
wind project
A motion by Planning Board
member Linda Peterson to recom
mend approval of the use permit
with staff-recommended condi
tions passed 3-2 with board mem
bers Jim Leggett and Jim Robison
voting against it
Peterson, Chairman Warren
Hare and board member Bobby
Winbome voted in favor of the
motion.
In addition to backing the con
ditions proposed by Chowan
Planning Director Elizabeth Bry
ant, the board also recommended
that the Chowan commissioners
establish procedures to regularly
assess and adjust the cash bond
for decommissioning wind tur
bines and towers
to ensure it’s ade
quate to cover all
decommissioning
costs. Decommis
sioning refers to
the complete re
moval of the tur
bines and towers
MORE INSIDE
■ Perquimans Planning Board set
to review wind facility permit - 2A
■ Analyst questions sound studies
in Apex application - 2A
ers, which will
consider Apex’s
request for the
conditional use
permit during
a quasi-judicial
hearing. The
hearing is ex
pected to be held
once they are no longer generat
ing electricity.
The Planning Board’s recom
mendation now goes to the Chow
an County Board of Commission
m late August
The proposed Timbermill Wind
Project by Charlottesville, Va.
based Apex Clean Energy Inc. is
designed as a 300-megawatt wind
energy facility and will include
about 105 turbines on a 16,000
acre section of Chowan and Per
quimans counties.
Apex’s Don Giecek said the com
pany was pleased with the outcome
of the Planning Board process.
“We appreciate the thoroughness
with which the county is approach
ing this process,” Giecek said. “The
amount of time and diligence the
Planning Board members and
See WIND, 4A
STAFF PHOTO BY REBECCA BUNCH
Chowan Tourism Director Nancy Nicholls presents Lt. Gov. Dan Forest with a special gift last week during his visit to Edenton. Forest was
treated to a trolley ride through town, accompanied by a group of local business and civic leaders, along with Rep. Bob Steinburg, R-Chowan.
Forest visits Edenton, tours historic sites
STAFF PHOTO BY
REBECCA BUNCH
Keith Furlough
a tour guide
for the Historic
Edenton
State Historic
Sites, points
out areas
of interest
including
portraits in
the James
Iredell House
to Lt. Gov. Dan
Forest during
his visit to the
community on
July 26.
BY REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
t. Gov. Dan Forest
visited a number of
local historic sites in
Edenton July 26 during a
campaign swing through
the region.
While in town, Forest
took a tour aboard the
Edenton trolley. Stops in
cluded the Cupola House,
the 1886 Roanoke River
Lighthouse, the 1767 Chow
an Courthouse, the Eden
ton Cotton Mill Village and
the James Iredell House.
Forest, who was first
elected in 2012, showed a
keen interest in the sites
and expressed strong sup
port for historic preserva
tion as a way to benefit eco
nomic development across
the state.
“It has been very impor
tant to our administration,”
he said. “In fact, we hit the
ground running.”
Forest noted that Secre
tary of Cultural Resources
Susan Klutz has led efforts
to encourage visitation and
an appreciation of the arts
across the state that in turn
See FOREST, 4A
Warrants
in home
invasion
obtained
From staff reports
Felony arrest warrants
have been obtained for
an Edenton man believed
to have fled to Ohio who
is wanted for a home in
vasion and assault last
month.
With the assistance of
the N.C. State Bureau of
Investigation, Edenton
Police have obtained felo
ny warrants for the arrest
of 18-year-old Joel Daniel
Dilucia, of 1114 Johnson
Lane, Edenton.
Dilucia, when appre
hended, will be charged
with first-degree burglary,
felony larceny, felony pos
session of stolen goods
and felony assault with a
deadly weapon inflicting
serious ipjury.
The charges stem from
the burglary and assault
of a man at his home in
the 100 block of W. Queen
Street in Edenton on June
7.
Police have received in
formation that Dilucia has
left the state and may be
living and working in Ohio.
Anyone with additional in
formation about the June
7 break-in and assault or
Dilucia’s location is asked
to call the Edenton Police
Department at 482-9884 or
482-5144 and ask for Sgt.
Laura Wilkins.
Edenton-Chowan school board races uncontested
From staff reports
All three races for the Edenton
Chowan Board of Education this
year were uncontested as filing end
ed Friday at noon.
In District 2, political newcomer
Paul Clifton is seeking the seat
currently held by John Guard, the
board’s chairman. Guard did not file
to seek reelection.
Clifton, 38, serves as an ex-officio
member of the Edenton-Chowan
Education Foundation and
said having his own kids
in the local schools is a big
motivation to serve.
Clifton is a senior vice
president with the State Em
ployees Credit Union. He at
tends Qpen Door Church, is
a PTA member and is a for
mer PTA treasurer.
JORDAN
currently held by
Kay Wright Wright
did not file to seek
reelection.
White, 56, is a na
tive of Bertie Coun
ty. She is the direc
tor of the Out of
the Box Childcare
Center in Eden
WHITE
a five star facility, the high
est rank available in North
Carolina.
White has an extensive
background in education,
including working for the
Bertie and Perquimans
County school systems.
White said a desire to
contribute to the better
Another candidate making a first ton. Under her leadership during ment of the lives of children in the
bid for elective office, Joan Hoggard the past three years, the center has community had influenced her deci
White, has filed for the District 3 seat gone from a two-star state rating to sion to run.
. Board member Gene Jordan has
filed to hold to seek reelection to the
District 1 seat he holds.
Jordan, 58, a farmer, said there
are a lot of important decision to be
made in the days and weeks ahead
that will have a significant influence
on the future of public education in
the community and that he wanted
to be a part of the process.
Among the most significant is
the future of John A. Holmes High
School, he said.
Public speaks out on Timbermill Wind Project
BY REQQIE PONDER
Editor
Public comment last
week on the conditional use
permit application for the
proposed Timbermill Wind
Project ranged from enthu
siastic endorsement to con
cerns that the facility could
make neighbors sick.
More than two dozen
members of the public
spoke at the July 26 meet
ing of the Chowan County
02009 The Chowan Herald
AN Righto Reserved
Hanning Board The board
voted 3-2 the following
night to recommend that
the Chowan Board of Com
missioners approve –
with conditions –
the conditional use permit
application by Apex Clean
Energy Inc. for the propeed
300-megawatt wind energy
facility in the Cottar Hill
and Bear Swamp areas.
The Tlmbermill site is lo
cated in both Chowan and
Perquimans counties, and
Perquimans officials cur
rently are involved in their
own permit review process.
Supporters of the Timber
mill project stressed eco
nomic value to the county
and longterm environmen
tal benefits, while d^rac
tore questioned those ben
efits and raised concerns
about the project’s potential
effects on property values
and health.
Speaking in support of
the project, Frances Inglis
said the Hmbermill Wind
Project would be the larg
est single taxpayer in the
county, providing needed
revenue for local schools
and other needs. She said
she feared local property
tax rates would go up with
out the wind project’s addi
tion to the tax base.
Inglis also said Apex had
been working to minimize
negative effects of the tur
bines such as bird deaths,
noise and shadow flicker.
She said the reality of ell
mate change makes it im
perative that communities
support the development of
alternative energy sources
such as wind power and so
lar power.
Speaking on the other
side of the issue was Belin
da Flynn, who said she and
her husband, Patrick, are re
storting a historic property
near the site of some of the
turbines in the Umbermill
project and don’t want to
have to move away because
of infrasound from the tur
bines.
She said she likes green
energy and indicated she and
her husband plan to install
solar panels and small wind
turbines on their own prop
erty. But utility-scale wind
facilities such as Tunbermill
generate inaudible noise or
“infrasound”
that can harm human health,
she said.
Especially vulnerable to
the effects of infrasound,
Flynn said, are people with
vertigo, older people and
the very young.
Edenton-Chowan Cham
ber of Commerce Director
Win Dale recited a resolu
tion adoped by the Cham
ber’s Board of Directors in
October 2015 in support of
wind energy projects in the
county. Glorious Elliott of
the Edenton-Chowan Board
of Education read a similar
resolution of support that
was adopted by the school
board iir September 2015.
Paul Waff, a local con
tractor, spoke in support of
wind energy projects as a
boon to local business. He
said his own company has
earned money by storing
and handling turbine com
ponents for the large-scale
wind energy project in the
desert area of Perquimans
and Pasquotank counties.
Noting businesses pay a
hefty portion of local taxes,
Waff said a wind energy fa
cility in Chowan would add
significantly to the county’s
tax base and help keep the
tax rate down.
Waff said wind energy
technology keeps getting
better and many of the ob
it
See PUBLIC, 4A