Augusta County has spent a lot of effort and money on development and planning which is foresighted.  But zoning has limitations.  It can restrict activities in specific locations, but it cannot force use and development in desired areas unless someone wants to buy the land and use it for the zoned purpose.  In some ways it seems as though Stuarts Draft is implementing plans too soon. In the desire to bring jobs into the area, some of the best farmland in Augusta County may have been paved over to build plants.  Route 340 was widened way before it was needed, but the need to widen Route 608 and build another bridge over Interstate 64 was evidently not foreseen with the explosion of growth around Augusta Health Center.   And evidently Stuarts Draft preplanned infrastructure for sewer and water where it is not wanted at the present time.   Now we have a group of farmers who own their land and want to continue to farm and propose a way to make farming more profitable with solar panels.  But the county planned that land for development, not farming.

I admit I am biased.  In any discussion between farming and development, I support preservation of farm land.  Sometimes it seems as if the Augusta County supervisors never see an empty piece of land they do not want to develop.  They zoned development around all the interchanges on I-81.  There is a pretty piece of development at the Weyers Cave interchange on I-81 that has been an eyesore for years.   If I had my way, all zoning and planning maps would show fertile farmland outlined in red.   Studies have shown that farming is the best use of some land.  Sure it sometimes creates dust and smells, but it allows space for rain to seep into the ground and restore the aquifer.  The plants on a farm help clean the air we breathe.  Farms require fewer government services, such as schools, roads, police and fire, and recreational facilities, than the taxes they pay.   Farms create less people and traffic than any other land use except cemeteries.


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