Highland Supervisors Get Update On Highland New Wind

Monterey, VA – At this week’s Highland County Board of Supervisors meeting, Highland New Wind Development’s conditional use permit was on the agenda. Board Chairman David Blanchard was not present for this meeting. County Administrator Roberta Lambert made a report to the Board on the Planning Commission’s request.

“Mr Whitelaw [Planning Commission representative] said that [Highland New Wind Development owner] Mr. McBride had given information when contacted” says Lambert. “Some of the grass planted last fall had been killed by frost, and was reseeded and fertilized and the site looks okay concerning erosion and sediment. They’re in the process of negotiating for wind turbines; the transformer for the substation has arrived and has been in storage since December.”

Lambert says the letter also says they have a matching grant to do the substation, but that grant will expire if they don’t begin work on the substation soon. Ms. Lambert goes on to discuss Planning Commission member Jim Cobb’s comments and the action taken by the Planning Commission.

“Jim Cobb said that there may be a lot of legal issues surrounding this that they are not aware of, and made a motion to forward the review of the conditional use permit to the Supervisors for resolution without a vote by the [planning] commission” says Lambert, reading from the Planning Commission letter.

County Attorney Melissa Dowd advised the Supervisors that they need take no action at this time. The Supervisors agreed, making a motion to that effect. The motion was seconded and passed with the caveat that County Attorney Melissa Dowd will check the zoning ordinance and make sure that no action by the Board is required at this time.

In other business, Project REACH, which stands for Rural Education and Cultural Heritage, presented a letter to the board requesting $5,148 matching funds for VISTA employee Sara Harman, who has been working this past year in support of the school system and the Highland Center.Betty Mitchell, who wrote the request letter, spoke briefly and responded to questions from the Board. The Supervisor’s response was to approve a motion suggesting that the School Board appropriate the needed funds for the VISTA position from the school budget, with the understanding that, should the school have a budget shortfall this year, the Supervisors would support a request for additional funds next spring.