When The Observer looked at Jefferson County home construction trends in May of 2021, the County’s Office of Impact Fees reported that 149 residential building permits had been issued countywide during the first three months of 2021. The numbers for the full year were even more impressive, as numbers for single family and townhouse construction were double the annual rate seen in the past decade. Read the Full Story >>
zoning
Is There A Room Available?
If you’ve ever rented a beach house or a mountain cabin for a week, you’ve likely stayed at a “short-term rental” property. These resort-area rentals have been available for decades, and prior to the internet, were typically booked through a local property management company. While local-agent rentals are still common in beach and mountain locales, the online booking companies Airbnb and Vrbo have established themselves as portals for guests to access a wide variety of short-term rentals in big cities, small towns, the suburbs, and recreation areas across the country. Read the Full Story >>
Court Ruling Undoes Zoning Amendment For Industrial Solar
On August 16, Judge Debra McLaughlin, in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, issued a ruling that invalidated the text amendment ZTA1903 to the Jefferson County zoning ordinance. The now-invalidated amendment was written to allow development of utility-scale solar power facilities as a principal permitted use in rural, residential growth and other open lands in the county. Read the Full Story >>
Tracking Solar Installations
During the discussions of the now-invalidated zoning amendment, several citizens expressed concern that the broad expansion of the amendment to include by-right development of industrial solar in rural and residential growth zones would open up most of the county as potential sites for these facilities. Read the Full Story >>
Zoning Changes Coming to Kearneysville
On April 15, Jefferson Orchards Inc. (JOI), applied to the Jefferson County Commission to change the zoning designation for the old Miller Orchard and a second, adjacent property located to the northeast of Kearneysville. The two parcels (240+ acres) are currently in the rural zone. Read the Full Story >>
Connecting Solar In Jefferson County
The Observer spoke with several energy industry professionals with experience in the development and management of utility-scale energy projects to understand the general context for the types of large-scale solar projects being proposed for Jefferson County. We also researched the specific topography of the local power grid and land to understand both the potential and constraints for these types of solar projects in Jefferson County. Read the Full Story >>
A Look At Rural Zoning In Jefferson County
While it’s common to think of land designated with rural zoning as reserved for agriculture, it’s really a category with many allowed uses, not all directly related to agriculture. Read the Full Story >>
Sparking A Converstation: Local Farmers Discuss Large-Scale Solar Development
Pastoral landscapes may be easy on the eyes, but farming them is a hard life. Todd Hough of Oakwood Farm has been working the land since he was a child. He and his brother are the fourth generation to run the family farm in the Kabletown District of Jefferson County. Read the Full Story >>
The Water Connecting Us
One hundred years ago, underneath the Old Opera House in Charles Town, locals and tourists danced the night away beside a crystal-clear lake inside a cavern filled with orchestral tones. Today, the Lakeland Caverns cave is quiet, all entries sealed off from the public. Read the Full Story >>
Perspectives from a Local Solar Professional
For the first article in this series, we invited Danny Chiotos to research and address some questions about the nature of the specific solar generation project that initiated the request for proposed zoning amendment ZTA 19-03. Read the Full Story >>
Trading Bigger Is Better for Less is More
As a rule, most American’s like their homes big, but Danielle LaRock and Jonathan Carnill have a desire to live tiny in an 8.5 x 20-foot dwelling. They hope to develop a space for other owners of tiny homes to enjoy their “tinys” as well—in harmony with the belief that it’s important to be in a community with others who care about the planet, personal development, simple living, and helping each other while also being self-sufficient. Read the Full Story >>
Shepherdstown Debates the Emergence of Transient Lodging
Arguably the oldest town in West Virginia, Shepherdstown remains surprisingly on trend within an assortment of social, political, and even municipal categories. Which is why it should come as no surprise to learn that the town began exploring the emergence of transient lodging back in 2017. Read the Full Story >>
Rockwool: Point – Counterpoint
Last month, The Observer attempted to tell the basic story behind the arrival of the Rockwool plant to Jefferson County. Now we’re taking the opportunity to allow one representative from each side to say their piece. Read the Full Story >>
He Said. She Said. They Said. We Said.
When all the posting, researching, explaining, presenting, disputing, articulating, organizing, mobilizing, etc., is stripped away, it looks like this: one group of people—Rockwool Group North America, the JCDA, and the City of Ranson—wants to bring what has been determined to be an economic opportunity to Jefferson County; another group—mostly Jefferson County citizens and larger groups therein—doesn’t want it here. They each have a story to tell; they each have been attempting to tell that story vigorously for the last month or more. Read the Full Story >>