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"News from Next Door"
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 2017
APR 1 9 RETD
Johnson
to attend
Governor’s
School, 5
50 cents
County reviews tighter solar farm rules
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The Perquimans County
reviewed a new and tougher
ordinance dealing with large
solar farms Monday night.
Perquimans County is 30
days into a 120-day mora
torium on considering any
new solar projects. The
four-month pause is to allow
the county planning board
time to review the current
solar rules so the commis
sion could make changes if
needed.
The draft recommenda
tion presented Monday to
the commission by the Per
quimans County Planning
Board limits the size of new
solar farms at 20 megawatts.
The old ordinance had no
restriction on size. From
a practical standpoint, the
recommendation would en
sure that any future solar
development isn’t any larg
er than what Perquimans
County already has. Two
of the three plants already
built are 5-megawatts in
size. The third, one on U.S.
17, is about 20 megawatts.
The smaller projects use
about 70 acres. That com
pares to really large projects
like one in Currituck Comity
that covers 2,000 acres.
The county commission
reviewed the draft present
ed by the planning board
and will take the issue up
next month at a work ses
sion.
The draft ordinance
increases the setback be
tween structures and ad
joining property from 30
feet to 100 feet. It also calls
for a drainage study before
the projects is build and
limits the height of grass or
weeds to 12 inches. The old
ordinance didn’t address
those issues.
“We wanted to be a little
bit more stringent,” said
Brenda Lassiter, one of the
planning board members.
The draft ordinance gets
tougher of the buffer be
tween the solar farm and
adjacent properties. The old
ordinance required a vege
tative buffer of trees within
three years. The draft ordi
nance requires developers
to give a cash bond equal
See SOLAR, 2
Foster
parents
needed
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The Perquimans County
Department of Social Ser
vices needs foster parents.
DSS is planning a meeting
pm May 3 for anybody inter
ested in learning more.
As of right now, Perqui
mans DSS has no licensed
foster parents in the county.
That means if a local child
needs to be placed in a foster
home, DSS needs to reach
out to neighboring counties
to find a place to house them.
But even that home for an at-
risk child may only be tem
porary, said Sherry Schrodt,
a foster care social worker
with the local DSS.
“If we have to send a child
to say Pasquotank County,
we’re in a sense ‘borrow
ing’ that foster home from
Pasquotank,” Schrodt said.
“If Pasquotank needed that
home we’d have to move
that child somewhere else.
Imagine an 8-year-old girl
who just got used to her new
home and then is moved
See FOSTER, 2
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
N.C. Secretary of Commerce Tony Copeland talks to former Perquimans County Commissioner
Janice Cole Saturday during a meeting of the Perquimans Democratic Party at the
Perquimans County Courthouse.
Commerce Secretary speaks
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Newly confirmed N.C. Com
merce Secretary Tony Cope
land spoke to Perquimans
County Democrats Saturday
about the economic challenges
facing rural communities.
About 20 people attended his
talk at the Perquimans County
Democratic Convention at the
Historic Perquimans County
Courthouse.
Copeland’s family has lived in
the region since the 1600s and he
grew up attending Piney Woods
Friends Meeting. He graduated
from Albemarle Academy and
then Duke University. He got
his law degree from T.M. Cooley
School of Law at Western Michi
gan University.
Before taking the commerce
post Copeland was a partner in
the law firm of Williams Mullen.
He also served as vice president
of the Raleigh-based telecom-
See COPELAND, 2
Water project
event planned
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Water quality officials plan to show off
thelf'latest efforts in Perquimans and Pas
quotank County on April 26.
The “Field Day” is designed for farmers,
landowners and officials from both counties
and extension agents to show two recent
water quality projects.
The test area was the Little River, a water
body that separates Perquimans and Pasquo
tank counties and flows directly into the Al
bemarle Sound. There is about an eight-mile
stretch of the river that is listed as “impaired”
in part because the level of sediment and ni
trogen is too high.
Part of the reason is historically farm
ditches ran directly to the river with no areas
to retain the water and allow it to filter out
the chemicals and sediment.
Through mostly federal and state grants,
some 2,000 feet of drainage and buffers were
installed starting in the winter of 2016 on the
Perquimans side. About 5,000 feet was cre
ated in Pasquotank County. The watershed
area that is protected is about 132,000 acres.
Mark Powell, a program and project man
agement consultant with the Albemarle
RC&D, said earlier projects on public land
have shown that the ditching and retainment
projects work to lower nitrogen and sedi
ment. The Little River project was to show
that it could be done on private land with the
cooperation of landowners.
“What we’re trying to demonstrate is how
to we can work with private landowners,”
See WATER, 2
Jury finds 25-year-old woman guilty of drunk driving
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A woman who was ar
rested for drunk driving
after leaving the home of
Assistant District Attorney
Kyle Jones, was found guilty
Wednesday by a Perquimans
County jury.
Anne Marie Whidbee,
25, claimed she left Jones’
house on New Hope Road
last year because Jones had
touched her inappropriately
several times and she was
afraid. Shortly after leav
ing, she ran her car into a
culvert.
Jones, 31, was not sched
uled to testify in the case,
but he did Wednesday
morning.
He said he and Whidbee
were friends, and she came
over for pizza and to watch
movies that night. Whidbee
had been accepted into the
U.S. Coast Guard and he
said the two weren’t sure if
or when they’d ever see each
other again. Both described
themselves as “friends.”
Whidbee testified she had a
boyfriend who lived in Cali ¬
fornia.
The two met when Whid
bee worked at Pineapple
Cafe and Chick-fil-A in Eliz
abeth City.
See DWI, 4
Chamber Expo coming April 27
From Staff Reports
More than two dozen
businesses some ready to
hire new employees, will be
at the annual Perquimans
Business Expo and Job Fair
on April 27.
The Expo will run from
noon until 4 p.m. at theJPer-
quimans County Recreation
Center. Admission is $1 per
person. From 5 p.m. until 7
p.m. there will be a Chefs
Challenge. Admission to
that is $10. Money raised
from the Challenge will go
to stop human trafficking.
Perquimans County
Chamber of Commerce Ex
ecutive Director Sid Eley
said the businesses will
show off what services they
offer.
During the afternoon
Planter’s Ridge will dem
onstrate how to pot plants,
there will be a celebration of
Perquimans County earning
NC Works Certified Work
Ready status, the Hertford
Print Shop will demonstrate
printing techniques, the
Master Gardeners will man
an “Ask a Master Gardener”
table and Kenny Saunders
will provide a putting dem
onstration. Also during the
afternoon, the Inner-County
See EXPO, 4
Garden
Party
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Lynwood Winslow, chair of
the Newbold-White House
Furnishings Committee, adds
the finishing touches to an
arrangement of recently
acquired furnishings and
accessories for the house.
Ongoing work to accurately
furnish the house is one of
many projects funded by the
annual PCRA Garden Party.
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