Charles Town WV — It was 7:00 pm last night when the Jefferson County Planning Commission convened. Seven and a half hours later it was March 12 and the commissioners had voted unanimously to deny the concept plan for the Mountain Pure water bottling factory in Middleway.
The Planning Commission had reserved the auditorium at Washington High School for the meeting and with almost 1,700 written comments submitted by the end of last week they were expecting a big turnout. The venue turned out to be a good choice as 500 people came to the meeting, filling almost every seat and packing the aisles in the back of the room.
The Commission went into executive session at the beginning of the meeting to receive legal advice and the crowd became restless after half an hour had passed with no signs of the commissioners. Stacy Chapman, the organizer of the Protect Middleway organization, stepped to the front of the room and got everyone singing Country Roads to help calm things down.
The commissioners returned at 7:45 and the two principals of Sidewinder, Sean Masterson and Jeff Fishbeck, spent about 15 minutes presenting the updates to the concept plan since the previous meeting. Sidewinder’s attorney followed at the podium, presenting Sidewinder’s view of the commissioners’ obligations and the limits of their authority.
Following a brief report from the planning staff, the public comments kicked off at 8:15. By the time speaker number 126 had finished, it was 2:23 in the morning.
The company’s lead technical representative, Mark Dyck of Integrity Federal Services, spoke briefly after the public comment finished, then asked the commissioners if they had any questions he could address. Following some brief back and forth about pumping limitations, Dyke proffered several restrictions on the pumping and well configuration that Sidewinder would be willing to incorporate into the concept plan to address concerns about water use.
Planning Commission President Mike Shepp then raised the issue of truck traffic through the historic village. The Jefferson County Historic Landmarks Commission had previously issued a report on the project recommending that the plan be rejected due to the potential damage to the historic character of the village from both the truck traffic and the pipeline construction. During the public hearing, the Jefferson County Foundation also provided a technical report on the likely harm to the century old buildings from the high levels of truck traffic projected by Sidewinder.
The risk of irreversible harm to the village character seemed to be the tipping point for the commissioners. Citing several sections of the zoning ordinance, Commissioner Cara Keys put forth a motion to deny the concept plan. All nine commissioners voted in favor of the motion and the meeting was adjourned soon afterwards at almost 3 am.
Published in the Observer Weekly (2025 Mar 12).
