482-441
,• f i K . I ^l|
P8/C8-* * * **CAR-RT LOT*'C 002 D0112
11111111' • ri 11 ■ ■ I ■ 1111 • 11111 ■ ■1 r i1111111 ■11 ■1 *
SHEPHERD PRUDEN LIBRARY
106 W WATER ST
EDENTON NC 27932-1854
wcuncjvi3yf July 13, 2016
UPCOMING
HOME GAMES
GAME STARTS AT 7PM AT HISTORIC HICKS FIELD
Gates open at 6:00 pm
July 14 vs Wilton Tolu (Pasquotank County Might)
July 16 vt. Ponlntulo Pilots (Ndt Run the Bases, Albemarle Bank l Trust Might)
July 16 vs. Petersburg Generals (50# Hot Begs)
July 20 vs Petersburg Generals (Wayback Wednesday: Salute to Prince, Pepsi Night)
Call 482-4080 For More Information I WWW.EDENTONSTEAMERS.COM
Search called off for missing boater in Yeopim River
BY PETER WILLIAMS
The Perquimans Weekly
The active search for a boater
missing since last week in the
Yeopim River was called off
Sunday afternoon.
John Poandl, 56, of Dudley,
was last seen alive July 6. He
and another man on board a
pontoon boat decided to take
a swim and the boat drifted
away. One man was recovered
by the N.C. Wildlife Service, but
Poandl remains missing. Poandl
is a resident of Dudley, a small
community in Wayne County.
“As of (Sunday) at 1 p.m.
the organized search for Mr.
Poandl was called off,” said
N.C. Wildlife Service Master Of
ficer Johnathan C. Beardsley on
Monday.
“There has been some citi
zens volunteering their time to
search (and) we have no way
of knowing if any of them are
continuing their search,” he
said. “We just ask that if anyone
finds anything to contact us at
800-662-7137 and to be sure and
record the latitude and longi
tude.”
For a time, boats from the
U.S. Coast Guard, N.C. Marine
Fisheries, Harvey Point Defense
Testing Activity, Gates County
Emergency Management, Hert
ford County Emergency Man
agement and Perquimans Coun
ty Water rescue ail participated
in searching for Poandl, Beard
sley said. Perquimans County
Emergency Management ran
the base of operations from
Holiday Island the entire time
and for the first two days, Coast
Guard helicopters helped in the
search.
“We all will continue to keep
a sharp eye out for any sign of
Mr. Poandl as we return to our
normal work duties,” Beardsley
said. “Our thoughts and prayers
go out to the family.”
First local bloom
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Shown with the first reported cotton bloom in Chowan County this season are (l-r) Wade White and Scottie White.
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
Scottie and Wade White experienced
a little extra excitement last week on
Independence Day.
But while the source of that excitement
shone brightly it was not about fireworks
but about cotton.
White’s Farm, operated by Dale and
Bryant White, has this year's first reported
cotton bloom in Chowan County.
Scottie White said he and his brother,
Wade, were scouting cotton for bugs and
diseases on July 4 when they noticed the
bloom in a field off Greenhall Road.
“We scout all our cotton and while we
were scouting it, we found the bloom,”
White said.
The farm plants cotton every year.
“We have been growing it for as long as I
can remember,” he said.
This is not the farm’s first experience
with an early cotton bloom. White recalled
that the farm also had the first reported cot
ton bloom in the county about 10 years ago.
This year’s cotton crop was planted
about the same time as usual, he said.
“We planted maybe a week earlier,"
White said.
In addition to cotton the farm also grows
com and beans.
Cotton growers in the area - and
throughout the eastern part of the state
- had an extremely rough time last year
because of weather.
For that reason, along with the first cot
ton bloom comes a hope that this season
will be better.
“So far the weather has been decent - up
until the past week or so when it got so hot
and dry,” White said.
Perquimans
Planning
Board meets
on permit
BY PETER WILLIAMS
The Perquimans Weekly
The Perquimans County Planning Board is
scheduled to consider plans for a $300 million
wind power project this week.
The first meeting was Tuesday night. If required,
a second meeting will be held tonight at 6 p.m. at
the Perquimans County Courthouse Annex, 110
N. Church St.
In Chowan, the planning board meetings on the
conditional use permit application by Apex Clean
Energy Inc. are scheduled for July 26 and 27.
The project proposed by Apex, a Charlottes
ville-based company, would straddle about 15,000
acres of Perquimans and Chowan counties. The
prospect of turbines as tall as 600-feet has prompt
ed fierce opposition from some area residents. In
previous meetings, more than 100 people have
packed commissioner meetings and more than
900 people have signed a petition in opposition to
the project.
Industrial-sized wind power projects are al
lowed under Perquimans zoning rules, but they
require a Conditional Use Permit (CUP). The five
member planning board reviews CUP applica
tions and then makes a recommendation to the
Perquimans County Commission. The commis
sion has the ultimate say on the project.
Both the county and opponents for the project
have hired outside legal help.
Opponents have engaged the services of Chad
Essick, an attorney with the law firm of Poyner &
Spruill. The firm has offices in Charlotte, Raleigh,
Rocky Mount, and Southern Pines. Essick earned
his law degree from Campbell University.
Essick declined to comment, however accord
ing to the law firm’s web site, Essick primarily rep
resents land owners and developers before local
boards of adjustment, planning commissions, city
councils, and county commissioners on matters re
lated to zoning, permitting, variances, annexations,
special use permits, site plans, subdivisions and road
closings.
In the past, residents have expressed concerns
about the health impacts of wind turbines, the aes
thetics and their fear of the impact they’ll have on
property values.
The county has retained the services of Douglas
Hanna of the firm Graebe Hanna & Sullivan in Ra
leigh. Hanna referred all questions to Perquimans
County Manager Frank Heath.
See BOARD, 2A
Board hires firm to review wind project permit application
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
The Chowan County
Board of Commissioners on
a split vote last week chose
to hire a firm with wind en
ergy project experience to
review the conditional use
permit application for the
proposed Timber-mill Wind
Energy Project.
. The board voted 3-2 at its
July 5 meeting to hire the
firm HDR to review the per
mit application submitted
by Apex Clean Energy Inc.
©2009 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
Apex, a Charlottesville,
V'aTbased company, has
proposed building a 300
rnegawatt wind energy facil
ity in the Bear Swamp area
of Chowan and Perquimans
counties.
Much of the land in the
proposed project area is
owned by forerst manage
ment company Weyerhaus
er. Most of the remaining
land in the project area is
owned by local farmers.
Commisisoner Emmett
Winbome’s motion to hire
HDR to do a technical re
view of the CUP application
by Apex passed with Com
missioner Alex Kehayes and
Commissioner John Mitch
ener voting against it.
In addition to the pro
posal from HDR, the county
had received a proposal
from Energy Ventures
Analysis Inc. – a firm
backed by some members
of the public who were con
cerned that HDR would be
too prone to view the proj
ect favorably because of the
company’s experience in the
wind power industry.
In an extensive presenta
tion at the meeting, County
Attorney Lauren Arizaga
Womble explained to the
commissioners that the
ordinance does not require
hiring an expert to review
the permit,.
But if the board wishes to
retain an expert, she said,
“who you retain and bring
on is in your discretion."
The purpose of the es
crow account required, by
the wind energy ordinance
is to cover county expeases
related to the project, she
said, and she added that she
understood a primary pur
pose of the escrow account
was for staff to have access
to an expert in the review of
the CUP application, since
wind energy is so technical.
Most planners in the the
state use an expert for re
viewing permit applications
for wind energy projects,
she said.
One of the issues that
the county attorney’s dis
cussion with the board ad
dressed was whether the
county had cast the net
wide enough in looking
for a firm to assist with the
CUP review.
Arizaga-Womble told the
board that county staff had
See PERMIT, 2A
Project review vote
gets complicated
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
I The vote last week by
the Chowan County Board
i of Commissioners on se
lecting a contractor to re
view the conditional use
permit application on the
Timbermill Wind Project
was unusually complicat
ed.
Apex Clean Energy Inc.
of Charlottesville, Va, has
proposed a 300-megawatt
wind energy facility in
the Bear Swamp area of
Chowan and Perquimans |
counties. The county i
commissioners last week ,
voted to hire a consultant
with wind energy experi
ence to assist county staff
in reviewing Apex’s CUP j
application.
The 3-2 vote to contract 1
with the firm HDR to re
view the application was
unusual because of a com
bination of three factors.
Tb begin with, Chairman
Jeff Smith was recused
• ■- ^' V .• ... -V
See VOTE, 2A