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Walker adds Zumba to after-school activities - 6A
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iry 20, 2016
Solar farm text amendment to be further scrutinized
BT KtBtUCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
Town of Edenton offi
cials are considering stricter
screening requirements and
other regulations for solar
farms before taking action
that could clear a path ’for
such facilities to be built.
A revised text amend
ment to the town’s Unified
Development Ordinance
governing the presence
of solar farms in the com
munity will receive further
scrutiny during an upcom
ing work session, the town
council decided at. its Jan.
12 monthly meeting.
1 he new draft of the text
amendment prepared by
Town Manager Anne-Marie
Knighton addresses con
cerns first raised at a No
vember council meeting.
In notes to the council
written prior to last week’s
meeting Knighton, who was
out of town and did not at
tenxi last weeks meeting,
explained the changes to
the proposed text amend
ment.
The action was taken as
a result of concerns raised
by an application from de
veloper Heath McLaughlin
to construct a solar farm on
Butternut Lane inside the
town’s extra-territorial juris
diction.
“I added a 500 foot set
back from occupied resi
dences and a 500 foot set
back from the center line
of a public right-of-way,”
Knighton said. “I also add
ed provisions that require
opaque screening from view
from public right of ways.”
Knighton added that she
and town attorney Hood El
lis along with Ben Gallop,
an attorney from Ellis’s firm,
had worked hard to draft
language that would require
financial arrangements with
See SOLAR FARM, 4A
Remembering King's Legacy
STAFF PHOTO BY REBECCA BUNCH
Alisa Robinson McLean, area superintendent for the Durham County Schools, gives the keynote address at E.A. Swain Auditorium during the annual celebration of Martin
Luther King Jr. Day, Monday. See more photos and story from Monday’s event on page SB.
V
Hearing
set for
building's
future
BY REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
Citizens will have an oppor
tunity next month to weigh in
on what they would like to see
done with the former North
eastern Commission building
on the Edenton waterfront.
The town council agreed at
its Jan. 12 meeting to schedule
a public hearing to seek input
from citizens on what they
would like to see done with the
building.
That hearing will take place
Feb. 22 during the council’s
monthly work session. Details
will be announced at a later
date.
There was discussion at the
meeting about holding the hear
ing at Swain Auditorium in an
ticipation of a larger than nor
mal turnout.
The council’s decision to
See BUILDING, 4A
man ii IIIIIM lltll
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6H«89076U44813,bi0
©2009 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
Immediate and long-term
fixes for water system sought
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
r
Chowan County likely
will pursue a long-term
upgrade to its water treat
ment process wliile hiking
immediate steps to meet
State requirements under
the current process, county
officials told attendees at
an informational meeting
last week.
The county’s water
system is being closely
monitored by state envi
ronmental regulators be
cause of concerns about
the effluent or wastewater
from the treatment process
and the extent to which it’s
believed to contaminate
groundwater because of by
products from the county’s
softening process.
County Manager Kevin
Howard told those who
attended an informational
meeting at the Public Safe
ty Center on Jan. 12 that
the state’s concerns about
the discharge had led state
officials late last year to
order Chowan County to
phase out softening of the
water by March 1 –
an order that since has
been rescinded as county
and state officials work to
ward a long-term solution
STAFF PHOTO BY REGGIE PONDER
Chowan County Manager Kevin Howard discusses the
county’s water system during an information session
held Tuesday, Jan. 12.
to the effluent-discltarge
concerns at the treatment
plant.
Howard explained that
the recent water rate in
crease was based on tire
need to set aside money
to address issues with the
water system. Since tire
water system operates on a
business-type model and is
intended to be self-sustain
ing, the water fund needs
to contain enough money
to cover not otrly operating
costs but also the cost of
upgrades that are required,
Howard said,
“I know a lot of concern
has come up about the rate
increase," Howard said.
Over the past three years
die water fund had not
been self-sustaining but
had lost $270,0004300,000
a year when depreciation
was taken into account, ac
cording to Howard.
“That was part of the
reason for the increase in
See WATER FIXES, 2A
Super Bowl
champ returns
to Edenton
BY REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
iACK vaienune
is coming home.
On Monday, the
standout lineback
er for the Edenton
Aces and East
Carolina Universi
| ty Pirates — who
| played in Super
! Bowl XIV in his
i rookie season as a
Pittsburgh Steeler
— will' attend a submitted photo
orally ^ Zack Valentine during his
A. Holmes High cogging days at Woodbury
School to deliver High School in New Jersey,
the special gift of
a golden football commemorating the 50th anniver
sary of the Super Bowl.
Valentine’s visit is part of the National Football
League’s recognition, in honor of the big game’s 50th
anniversary, of the high schools of all of the play
ers and head coaches to ever participate in a Super
Bowl.
Valentine said he would never forget the first time
he saw a Super Bowl ring. It belonged to Pittsburgh’s
‘Mean’ Joe Greene, he said.
“What’s that?” I asked him. “He told me, ‘it’s nice,
isn’t it.’ Then he told me, ‘don’t you worry, we’re go
ing to get you one.’”
Valentine said he planned to wear his ring on the
trip to Edenton to show students what nurtured tal
ent combined with hard work could achieve.
See VALENTINE, 3A
i
MUNITY CENTER
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