CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — The Harrison County Commission temporarily delayed the process of issuing a permit related to demolition of three dams along the West Fork River as part of a river restoration project.
This does not mean the county will ultimately deny the permit, but the commission pulled the administrative authority delegated to the planning department in order to ask questions of the organization that submitted the permit, the Canaan Valley Institute.
“Do they really need our permission to remove the dams,” asked Commission President Ron Watson. “We don’t own the water anyway.”
However, the Highland, Two Lick and West Milford Dams fall within a Flood Plain, making their demolition subject to submission of a Location Improvement Permit, according to county ordinance No. 88-1 passed in 1988.
In the ordinance, the permit is defined as required for a number of situations including “…prior to any land altering activity in a flood prone area,” which is any area subject to the one hundred year flood as determined by the Flood Insurance Study.
The permit does not require a signature from the commissioners, only the ability to process it. This is normally delegated to the county’s Land Development Coordinator, but the commission has the right to step in at any point.
Watson also wondered during last week’s meeting why the permit was submitted by the CVI when they have been dealing with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service throughout the majority of the project.
The reason for that is questions from the county commission so far have predominately been directed toward the “Why” of the project, rather than the “How.”
“CVI is major partner on the project,” said Callie McMunigal with the National Fish Habitat Partnership in an email response. “They are currently assisting us with the designs and permitting aspects of the projects. They will also assist us with construction when the time comes.”
The focus of U.S. Fish and Wildlife has been more on surveying the river to determine how restoration could benefit up to 25 different species, including the endangered Clubshell Mussel. With CVI handling the permitting, the federal agency can maintain focus.
Representatives from CVI were requested at last week’s meeting to answer questions, but were unavailable, prompting the commissioners to hold off on processing until they could speak face-to-face with them and U.S. Fish and Wildlife.
“They said ‘Once the water level is done, we’ll reclaim that particular area, we’ll help farmers with fencing, we’ll do this, we’ll do that.’ That’d be nice to get on record here at the county commission before we do the permit because then you’re committed,” Watson said.
The actions of the commission come almost a week after the current owner of the dams, the Clarksburg Water Board, voted 3-0 to honor a contract signed with U.S. Fish and Wildlife to remove the three dams and install a fish passage on the Highland Dam.
Previously, a Sales Agreement was drawn up to transfer ownership of the dams to the county, but the commission rejected that offer.
With the Water Board already signing a contract with U.S. Fish and Wildlife that stipulates both parties must agree to nullify, commissioner felt it would do no good to take the dams if the federal agency was going to demolish them anyway.
“They should have never, never ever should have [signed the contract] knowing that the county commission had the interest in it,” Watson said. “Their purpose of liability was ‘B.S.’ in terms of what action that could be with them. Them dams have been there for a hundred years and they have one lawsuit and they put their tail between their legs and run because of that?”
The Water Board initially reached out to the USDA, looking for help in eliminating the liability that came with owning the dams, in the early 2000s after three individuals drowned at the Highland Dam.
The county commission has given up on efforts to acquiring the dams, saying every possible option remains on the table.
One such option that has been entertained for some time is acquiring the dams through eminent domain.
“It would stop any action until it went though the court system,” Watson said. “It could be a long, lengthy, costly action to do something like that.”
Commissioner Bernie Fazzini described that method as a “gamble” on Thursday, as legal opinions indicate the cost could range from no cost to $80 million, with no indication of where it could land.
In the meantime, U.S. Fish and Wildlife is continuing on with the demolition project and is currently waiting for the outstanding permits to be approved before work can begin.
As of last Thursday, two of the seven required permits had been approved, according to McMunigal.
The commission will have 90 days from the date of the permit’s submission to make a determination.