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Abell, Peter White and George Sharp. Mr. Massie said they would try to bring the tables and charts up to date, study future trends in agriculture, and make recommendations to the Planning Commission.
"Pm concerned with the preservation of healthy agriculture. We ought to know where we stand,” Mr. Abell said.
Mr. McCarthy said the committee could “attack a number of issues at once." He recommended that Agricultural Extension Agent Tommy Williams also serve on the committee.
The planners decided to pursue the agriculture study, and suggested that anyone else interested in serving on the committee contact their district’s planning commissioner or Mr. McCarthy.
ROW widening sought
Mr. McCarthy told the planners that representatives of the Rappahannock Electric Co-operative would appear at the July meeting to suggest that the county amend its zoning ordinance to provide for 40foot rather than 25-foot rights-ofway for 15‘kilovolt power lines.
He said that the power company says it is impossible to keep the 25foot rights-of way cleared on a fouryear cycle, and that with only 12 and a half feet on either side of the power line, any ice storm can cause trees to fall on the lines.
Phil Irwin, a veteran of campaigns to limit the stringing of power lines across the county, said, “They’re talking about low voltage, that goes to the transformers before it goes to your house. It’s a way to keep the trees cleared back, and I have no problem with that ... I’d like to suggest again at the same time you modify the existing ordinance by preventing construction of a residence or any significant structure within 100 feet of the transmission lines."
Mr. Irwin added that his suggestion for a restriction on construction would apply only to the major lines such as the 128.5 kv line coming into Sperrvville from Lurav and the 34.5 kv line going from Sperryville to Front Royal.
He said that any time the power companies want to upgrade the amount of power in their lines, they clear a whole new corridor. They say they can’t upgrade along existing rights-of-way because houses are built too close to the lines. “We ought to keep people from giving the power company that excuse.”
Mr. McCarthy noted that some properties along the line from the Shenandoah National Park boundary to the substation in Sperryville are so small that requiring 100-foot setbacks from the transmission lines might "amount to a taking” of the properties. He said he would get together with Mr. Irwin to study the "impacts on properties” of such a change in the zoning ordinance.
“That could cause a problem in Chester Gap too," Mr. Massie suggested.
Draft ClP presented
The planners also received copies of the first work on the county’s proposed capital improvements’ program. Mr. McCarthy had provided them with a list of all capital facilities and another list previously approved capital projects through those included in the newly-adopted budget.
Mr. Fannon questioned whether it was necessary to list a $1,500 copying machine as a capital improvement.
“Unlike other office equipment, we don’t rotate them out of service on a regular basis,” Mr. McCarthy said. “The next step up is computers,” he said.
After some discussion the planners decided to set a dollar amount and not consider anything costing less than $5,000 as a capital improvement. “The supervisors recognize we need help in evaluating competing demands,” Mr. McCarthy said. This year, he noted that the Fire and Rescue Association had come in with requests for $15,000 in capital improvements. “The landfill was a rude awakening for all of us,” he said.
“I thought you were going to project land acquisition,” Dr. Krebser commented.
Mr. McCarthy said the current documents only go through the new budget year. “I project that in the future, we’re going to need land for a middle school or for general government purposes.”
Mr. McCarthy said the next step would be for him to ask each agency to give him a list of plans for capital improvements in the next five years.
The planners also recommendad approval to the request by Richard N. and Joy L. Cartwright-Brown for
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