Where's that turbine: Va. or W.Va.?

MONTEREY — One of the most glaring errors on initial site maps submitted by Highland New Wind Development was a turbine tower that appeared to sit squarely on the wrong side of the state line, in West Virginia.

Monday, land surveyor Jeff Hiner sent a letter to the county explaining the location of that tower had been corrected, and in fact, moved 33 feet east so it's now proposed to be situated 16 feet inside the state line, in Virginia.

Hiner had staked out all the turbine sites on Tamarack Ridge and Red Oak Knob, he said. "My preliminary stakeout found turbine site 1T, being the first or most southern turbine site on Tamarack Ridge, to be within West Virginia," he explained.

After moving the site of that tower, he said he gave the new coordinates to HNWD, which updated its application to the Federal Aviation Administration.

"There was no problem with turbine site 2T; it was in Virginia, the county and state line being the break point of the top of the mountain sometimes referred to as the fall line of the water shed," he said. "The true location of this line varies slightly from what is shown on the USGS topographical map."

Hiner said he surveyed several property lines in the area, obtained plats by other surveyors, plotted the right of way plans for U.S. 250 from Back Creek to the West Virginia line, and used several land grants and deeds of the area. He also did field work with compass and tape from the saddle between Red Oak Knob and Bear Camp Knob to Noted Rock.

"I have tied in four of the corners of the Monongahela National Forest. I have overlaid this data onto aerial photographs and onto the USGS topographical map, and matched up the lines with the fences, streams, ridges, roads, etc. My analysis from this information finds that all turbine sites except 2T and 3T are more than 1,600 feet from the outside property lines of Red Oak Ranch property … with turbine site 4T being 1,613 feet from the property line," he said. "This set back issue has been, or will be, resolved by an easement from Scott Timberland Company."