What is happening
A one million-square-foot groundwater bottling facility is being proposed in Middleway at the old 3M facility. The developers have submitted a concept plan for consideration by the Jefferson County Planning Commission. The first public workshop was held on November 12. The public turned out and persuaded the commission that the application was insufficient. The Commission voted unanimously that the plan was incomplete and needed to be redone. The Applicant has submitted new materials and a Public Workshop has been scheduled for February 11, 2025 at 7 pm at the County Commission Meeting Room. The commission will take public comment and vote at this meeting or within 14 days.
Click here for the original concept plan.
Click here for the updated concept plan. (November 18, 2024)
Click here for the further updated concept plan. (December 6, 2024)
Click here for the supplemental information.
The industrial facility in Middleway, known locally as the 3M plant, was run by Eastman Kodak until 2006. The property was remediated through the voluntary remediation program between 2014 and 2019. The groundwater is contaminated with two industrial pollutants (Trichloroethane and cis-2,3 Dichloroethene) and the property contains two closed industrial landfills, contaminated spill ponds, and contaminated soil. In 2020 for a period of time the property was used as a hemp growing facility. Sidewinder Enterprises (which owns the highlighted properties in the above image) has since acquired this facility and several small properties containing part of Turkey Run upstream of Middleway and Lake Louise (a karst water feature that is small in surface area but thought to be very deep in the middle).
The old 3M facility, the subject of this application, is currently zoned Industrial Commercial while the properties owned by the applicant upstream on Turkey Run and Lake Louise are zoned Rural.
In the course of the November 12 meeting the company revealed that it would be using groundwater for bottling.
The company developed three commercial wells near Lake Louise in 2022. During the drilling of one of these wells there was a blow out of drilling muds in to the neighboring wetlands and several other environmental infractions for which the company was given a notice of violation from the WV Department of Environmental Protection.
The applicant had a very basic hydrology test done on one of these wells. The hydrology report indicated that the “development” would need 1.728 million gallons of potable water per day.
This is enough water to serve 5,760 houses. This is a massive amount of water to be bottling up and sending out of the county.
From the health department permits we know that the combined water extraction capacity of wells B and C is 5500 gallons per minute or 7.9 million gallons per day. This is enough water to serve 26,333 houses. Jefferson County only has 25,185 dwelling units.
The Issues with this Concept Plan
The development described in the concept plan does not comply with the zoning ordinance.
In the Jefferson County Zoning and Land Development Ordinance there are three categories of land uses in each zone:
Principal Permitted Uses – Uses with this designation in a zone are allowed by right in that zone. They are still subject to the requirements in the concept plan and the site plan process but the use is allowed by right.
Conditionally Permitted Use – Uses with this designation in a zone are only allowed if they obtain a conditional use permit from the Board of Zoning Appeals. The board of zoning appeals may reject or place requirements or restriction on a conditional use permit.
Prohibited Use – Uses with this designation in a zone are not allowed in that zone.
When a concept plan is submitted to the Planning Commission (the first step in the development process) the staff and the planning commission members must determine if the land use is permitted in the zone where the subject property is located. If the use is a Principal Permitted Use the application may continue to the concept plan process. If the land use requires a conditional use permit the concept plan must be rejected and the developers must proceed to the Board of Zoning Appeals to apply for a conditional use permit. If the land use is a prohibited use the concept plan should be rejected.
The new concept plan indicates the water for bottling will be sourced from groundwater wells.
Groundwater Extraction is not listed as a permitted land use in any zone in the Jefferson County Zoning and Land Development Ordinance (zoning ordinance).
Groundwater Extraction is also not included in the land use the applicant has identified “Manufacturing, Limited”. The zoning ordinance defines Manufacturing, Limited as “The manufacture, predominantly from previously prepared materials, of finished products or parts, including processing, fabrication, assembly, treatment and packaging of such products, and incidental storage, sales, and distribution of such products, but excluding basic industrial processing and custom manufacturing. This category includes welding services.”
Section 1.3 D of this ordinance states, “If a proposed use is not one in the list of the principal permitted or conditional uses in each zoning district, it shall be prohibited as though it was included in the list of prohibitions. Applicants desiring inclusion of a use not specifically permitted in this Ordinance may apply for a text amendment, following the provisions outlined in Article 12 of this Ordinance.”
The potential negative impacts:
Groundwater should be reserved for rural residential uses, farming, and livestock. Farms cannot rely on groundwater brought in from outside sources. Without ample accessible groundwater in this area of the county, farming will cease to be viable.
The water study that the applicant has done was not designed for Karst Hydrogeology and therefore does not accurately reflect what the impacts of this groundwater extraction will be.
Excessive water extraction can cause hazards in karst hydrogeology. In karst hydrology there can be large caverns or spaces below ground that are filled with water. The water supports the walls and roof of these caverns. As groundwater is drawn down significantly this support is removed and the roof of these large spaces can collapse creating cover collapse sinkholes. These sinkholes are large and can cause a sudden catastrophic collapse. This could make driving large heavy farming equipment over the land (planting, harvesting) more dangerous.
Concerns regarding groundwater extraction in this location
Water Availability: The combined capacity of two of the groundwater extraction wells the applicant owns is 7.9 million gallons a day. For context, this is enough water to service all of the dwelling units in Jefferson County (25,185 as of July 1, 2023) plus 1,300 more. If these wells were run for just 2.5 days, they would extract 90,000 tons of water or enough to float a modern battleship in the US Navy. Even if the company runs the wells at the rate given as the desired rate of 1.728 million gallons a day, this is enough water to serve 5,760 homes. We are concerned that this will reduce water availability and restrict access to farmers, horsemen, and rural residences. This would place an undue and likely insurmountable burden on local farmers and horsemen. Groundwater should be preserved for agriculture, livestock, and rural residential uses, and not used for one company to extract free of charge to bottle and sell elsewhere.
The company had a hydrogeology evaluation done for at least one of its wells. The hydrogeology report found that in times of normal rainfall, the well would only lower the water table a few feet. However, the Foundation had this report evaluated by our expert hydrogeologist and he found that the incorrect assumptions were made for the modeling and therefore the findings of this report were likely incorrect and unreliable.
Water Pollution: A pollution plume of trichloroethylene and dichloroethylene exists at the 3M facility. The DEP employee who worked on the voluntary remediation plan expressed concern that if groundwater were extracted at a high rate from the location at Lake Louise where the applicants’ wells are that this pollution plume may be disrupted and move the pollution into the town of Middleway where there are many residential and agricultural wells. If this happens it is not possible to just reverse the process because of the karst hydrogeology. Even if the groundwater extraction were to stop, the pollution may become permanently entrained in eddies and blind ended caverns within the karst. Any wells in these areas may have persistent pollution.
How is CTUB Involved
CTUB (Charles Town Utility Board) entered into an agreement with Sidewinder in April of 2024. Unfortunately, this agreement was not considered in a robust public process. In fact, according to the CTUB general manager there are no meeting agendas or meeting minutes that reflect an agenda item, discussion, or action on such an agreement. We are frustrated that CTUB has clearly not been following the Open Meetings Act, which requires that all items to be discussed or acted on be listed on the agenda with enough specificity that the public can determine the topic to be discussed.
The agreement itself however provides protection to the public of Middleway and Jefferson County by placing some of the infrastructure in control of CTUB. CTUB is a public utility so it is bound by the Open Meetings Act and the Freedom of Information Act. These laws and an appointed board provide transparency and accountability to the people. This will give us in site to the project that we would not have had without the agreement.
The Developer will design the project.
CTUB will evaluate the design of the project before construction.
The Developer will obtain and pay for all approvals.
The Developer will construct and pay for the construction of the infrastructure.
CTUB will aid in obtaining easements.
CTUB will inspect the constructed infrastructure.
The Developer will do the testing and preparation of the infrastructure.
Developer will provide the plans and CTUB may inspect them.
During construction the Developer will own the infrastructure.
The Developer will have the infrastructure certified and approved.
The Developer will notify CTUB of completion.
CTUB has 45 days to inspect and require repairs if needed.
The developer shall deliver and CTUB shall accept ownership of the project.
The developer shall lease the land the water treatment plant it is on to CTUB (100 yrs. $1).
The developer will maintain and operate the wells.
CTUB will maintain and operate the water main and the treatment plant.
CTUB has first right of refusal for purchase of the wells and the land parcels.
If the developer sells the buyer will maintain the agreement.
Update on what happened at the January 8 meeting
Unfortunately, a majority of the citizens who spoke at the CTUB meeting on January 8, 2025 spoke against the agreement between Sidewinder and CTUB. The board then went into executive session and when they emerged voted to rescind the signature on the agreement. The Foundation is not certain how this will play out going forward but we will keep you posted.
Take Action
Attend and give public comment. Public Hearing is scheduled for February 11.
Suggested comments – Ask the Planning Commission to DENY the concept plan because:
- This concept plan does not conform to the zoning ordinance. Therefore, this concept plan should be denied.
- Water extraction is not permitted and therefore prohibited in all zones in Jefferson County.
- The traffic impacts have not been appropriately addressed.
- If in the alternative the Planning Commission accepts the concept plan and gives direction to the company for the site plan ask the Planning Commission to place conditions on their direction requiring that the company:
- This development shall not use groundwater for any purpose including but not limited to bottling.
- A truck access route must be constructed at the applicants expense that directs traffic around the truck traffic and excess car traffic around the historic district of Middleway.
Send in written public comment. Send to planningdepartment@jeffersoncountywv.org and the list of planning commissioners’ email addresses below or use our portal below.
Planning commissioner email address:
michaelshepp@me.com
louthan@frontiernet.net
jware@greenhorizonsturf.com
hefestay@yahoo.com
donniefisher@yahoo.com
tim@rsdhorseauctions.com
howell.aaron.j@jmail.com
ckeys@jeffersoncountywv.org
Send a Comment
Use our portal to send to the Jefferson County Planning Commissioners and staff. Please adda a personal comment to make sure it’s seen by commissioners.