By Jean Braithwaite
tribune correspondent

KEYSER — The second draft of the updated Mineral County Comprehensive Plan was completed in September, and a series of work sessions began on Wednesday evening for the Planning Commission members to create the gathered information into a document that will be a tool of progress for the county.
Commission President Clyde Burdock pointed out to members, “This will be an informal session, going over the plan page by page,” adding correction or additions will be forwarded to Dr. Mike Dougherty, West Virginia University Extension specialist, who has compiled information in the draft form.
While all were in agreement concerning the outcome of the completed 10-year Comprehensive Plan, Dave Frederick voiced, “”We must make this plan work for the county.”
On the subject of growth within the county, David Umling said that an interesting observation was revealed in the plan, centered on the statistics of the number of people moving from Hampshire County to Mineral.
Saying this was a positive trend, he suggested the price range of homes in
this county could be among the factors for the migration.
“We need to understand why this is working for us and say that in the plan,” Umling said, promoting positive statements be included in the document.
Commenting that the community can decide if growth is wanted and how to support those efforts, he stated, “This plan has a purpose and it is not to tell the last person out of Mineral County to turn the lights off.”
The chart dealing with worker outflow showed 390 workers travel to the Winchester, Va., area for employment, and discussion centered on the types of jobs that were taking county people to another state.
This information and other job related data will be used as fingerprints to show what is happening in the county and what will be included in the updated plan.
A chart showing the top ten employers in the county is part of the plan, and Burdock suggested the number of employees at each business be part of the data.
The education section showed the percentage of those in Mineral County attending college or graduate school is higher than both state and national levels.
Commissioner Wayne Spiggle mentioned the “impeccable success of our two high schools, and people deciding to move into the county need to know this information.”
Adding to this County Planner Scott Clay said, “Education is the No. 1 determining factor for people moving into the county.
“We do educate a lot of our children, they achieve, but retention is a problem,” he said.
Mentioning with the addition of broadband Internet services presently moving toward becoming a reality in the area, Spiggle said, “This addition could help keep our graduates in the county.”
The inclusion of the statement concerning the high elevation of Mineral County being a prime location for wind farms brought a lengthy discussion to the floor.
“I take issue with this statement about the county being a prime location,” Umling said, “There is only one area on Allegheny Front that could be suitable.”
Spiggle wanted that particular information corrected in the plan, because “The wind is marginal on Allegheny Front.”
Adding to this, Frederick said, “We are not here tonight to debate the pros and cons of wind power, but to give information in the plan of what we do have in this county.”
Other subjects brought to the floor and will have information included in the updated plan concerned the trend of the population moving out of the county’s municipalities, the economic potential of using the farm land to produce crops and have a notation that the county could be an agricultural leader, the advantage of having natural gas production through the underlying Marcellus shale layer, with language in the plan to develop steps to handle the resulting wastewater, and encourage development of housing through the use of clustered buildings.
Also, to have a place in the plan, perhaps as an appendix, will be the outcome of the 2007 public meetings held to gain information for the updating process, including a summary of the over 600 comments made by residents.
The next work session schedule will be announced at a later date.