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EDENTON NC 27932-1854
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Walker students set speed
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482-4418
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Wednesday, December 4, 201 3
50*
■ New rules allow
600-foot-high turbines
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
The Chowan County
Board of Commissioners
unanimously approved Mon
day an amendment to the
county’s wind energy ordi
nance that would allow wind
turbines to be built up to 600
feet high.
County officials noted
during the board’s meeting
Regional
bicycle
path plan
backed
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
The Chowan County
Board of Commissioners
voted 6-1 Monday to adopt
a resolution in support of a
regional bicycle path plan.
Commissioner Emmett
Winbome cast the lone vote
against approving the reso
lution.
At a previous meeting
the board had voted down
a motion to back the bike
path plan, which was de
veloped through the Albe
marle Rural Planning Orga
nization. but after hearing
from cyclists and others in
the community who were
strongly in favor of the plan,
the board agreed to revisit
the issue.
Sterling Baker of the N.C.
Department of TVansporta
tion was at the commission
ers’ meeting Monday night
and addressed questions
and concerns from the com
missioners — mostly about
funding.
One of the things Baker
acknowledged was that
recent changes in the way
state highway funds are
distributed will likely mean
that Division One, which
consists of Chowan and 13
other counties in northeast
ern North Carolina, will re
ceive far less funding than
under the previous “equity
formula.”
Asked by County Manag
er Zee Lamb whether bicy
cle path construction would
be likely to get funded un
der the new system, Baker
said it probably would not
be funded unless it was part
of a highway-widening proj
ect that was a priority for
funding.
Chairman Keith Nixon
said one of the things that
had persuaded him to sup
port the bicycle path plan
was learning that the coun
ty would be unable to apply
for grants - whether state or
federal — for bicycle path
construction without a plan
being in place.
Nixon said he still has
some concerns about spe
cifics about the plan and
is especially troubled that
See PLAN, 2A
©2009 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
Monday night that the text
amendment is the first step
in a process. Officials from
Apex Clean Energy Inc. said
it likely will be a year before
the company is ready to ap
ply for a permit to site and
construct a wind farm.
Apex is the company that
is considering construction
of a 300-megawatt wind farm
on roughly 10,000 acres of
Weyerhauser land along the
Chowan-Perquimans county
line.
County and Apex officials
pointed out that Monday’s
Rocky Hock Christmas Show
CHOWAN HERALD FILE PHOTO
During the 2012 Rocky Hock Opry Christmas show, vocalist Kaitlyn Flythe, sings “Where Are You Christmas,”
the theme song from the movie “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” Tickets are on sale now for this year’s
shows that will take place this Friday and Saturday night, Dec. 6-7, at Swain Auditorium in Edenton. Shows
start at 7 p.m. nightly. For ticket locations, contact Jack Evans at (252) 340-3438. Proceeds from the shows
will benefit Chowan-Perqulmans Relay for Life.
Company donates lighting to D.F. Walker School
BY REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
Students and staff at D.F.
Walker Elementary School in
Edenton are the recipients of
an early Christmas gift from
Durham-based CREE Inc.
that has let new light shine in
the school’s 4,080 sq. ft multi
purpose room.
According to Brad Bass,
maintenance supervisor
for the EdentorvChowan
Schools, the gift couldn’t have
been given at a better time. He
said that the multi-purpose
room was chosen because
the lights there had been ex
tremely problematic for the
past four years.
“They started failing around
2009," Bass said. “The sockets
action brings Chowan’s
wind energy regulations in
line with the rules in Perqui
mans.
While Apex’s request has
triggered the amendment,
the text amendment applies
in all situations and is not
site-specific or project-spe
cific. The company will pres
ent site-specific plans at a lat
er date, which will go before
the Chowan Planning Board
and also before the county
commissioners for action at
that time.
The text amendment the
that the bulbs plugged into
became extremely brittle
and would no longer hold the
bulbs. The light quality was
extremely poor.”
Bass said that Jessica
Graber with NORESCO in
Cary introduced him to Pa
tricia Brezney, who is affili
ated with the North Carolina
chapter of the Green Schools
Advocacy group that is part of
the U.S. Green Building Coun
cil.
The council initiated the
collaboration with CREE
and coordinated the proj
ect as part of a Green Apple
Day of Service, according to
Brezney. Now in its second
year, Green Apple Day of Ser
See LIGHTING, 2A
commissioners approved
Monday was recommended
by the Chowan Planning
Board at its meeting last
month. Board member Patti
Kersey cast the only vote
against the amendment at
the planning board meeting.
Previously, Chowan did
not allow wind turbines to
be built higher than 250 feet
The amendment approved
Monday allows 600-foot-high
turbines; allows the com
pany one year to remove
equipment and materials
after a turbine ceases opera
tions; establishes a bonding
formula for decommission
ing of turbines that requires
a bond of the estimated cost
of removal, less the salvage
value of materials; allows ap
proval of the county’s wind
farm permit to be contingent
upon all other required per
mits being in place, rather
than requiring the permits to
be in hand before die county
permit is issued; and allows
county staff to approve mi
nor or non-material modifi
cations to the plan.
During a public hearing on
the amendment, members
of the public spoke on both
sides of the issue.
James Robison cited a
number of concerns, in
cluding fire safety, flight
safety and proximity to the
Northeast Regional Airport;
danger to birds and bats;
health concerns stemming
from noise and shadow
flicker, and whether the
bond would be sufficient
to cover the actual cost of
decommissioning if it were
See AMENDMENT, 2A
Sale
starts
shopping
season
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
Retailers were looking
for a big boost from Black
Friday — especially with a
shorter-than-usual Christ
mas shopping season this
year -r- and many local
stores seem to have gotten
the start they were seeking.
“I think they got a good
jump-start,” said Edenton
Chowan Chamber of Com
merce Director Win Dale.
Dale said the shopping
season is effectively one
week shorter this year be
cause of the late date of
Thanksgiving. He said he
hopes shoppers will contin
ue to support local retailers
in the weeks ahead.
Peebles and Sears in
downtown Edenton both
started Black Friday the
night before, with special
Thanksgiving night shop
ping.
Jadelle Wagner, manager
of Peebles, said combined
sales for the Thursday night
event and Black Friday were
much better than last year.
There were 60 people
in line Thursday evening
when the store opened, and
soon there were a hundred
people inside the store, she
said.
“We were busy — the
building was full — for a
good hour and a half,” Wag
ner said of the Thursday
night opening.
One of the first 50 shop
pers Thursday night got a
See BLACK FRIDAY, 2A
PHOTO COURTESY BRAD BASS/EDENTON CHOWAN SCHOOLS
William Riddick installs new LED lighting on Saturday morning at D.F. Walker
Elementary School.
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