BOCC 7/8/03

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=210 BGCOLOR="#99CC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0968dfc3.jpg"> <div> <A HREF="id66.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BOCC Meeting Notes 7/1/03 12/31/03"><U><B>BOCC Meeting Notes  7/1/03 - 12/31/03</B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=130 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0978dfe1esnpes.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#336666" FACE="Arial" ><B>Welcome to the Web Site of Clare Whitbeck</B></FONT><B>     </B><B>|</B><B>     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome to the Web Site of Clare Whitbec"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id130.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BOCC 7/1/03"><U>BOCC 7/1/03</U></A>   |   <B>BOCC 7/8/03</B>   |   <A HREF="id134.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BOCC 7/15/03"><U>BOCC 7/15/03</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id135.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BOCC 7/22/03"><U>BOCC 7/22/03</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id136.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BOCC 8/5/03"><U>BOCC 8/5/03</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id139.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BOCC 8/19/03"><U>BOCC 8/19/03</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id141.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BOCC 8/25/03"><U>BOCC 8/25/03</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id142.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BOCC 9/2/03"><U>BOCC 9/2/03</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id152.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BOCC 9/9/03"><U>BOCC 9/9/03</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id151.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BOCC 9/16/02"><U>BOCC 9/16/02</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id153.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BOCC 9/23/03"><U>BOCC 9/23/03</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id158.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BOCC 9/30/03"><U>BOCC 9/30/03</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id159.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BOCC 10/7/03"><U>BOCC 10/7/03</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id160.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BOCC 10/21/03"><U>BOCC 10/21/03</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id163.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BOCC 10/28/03"><U>BOCC 10/28/03</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id166.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BOCC 11/18/03"><U>BOCC 11/18/03</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id175.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BOCC 12/2/03"><U>BOCC 12/2/03</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=350 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0978dfc3.jpg"> <div> <I>BOCC 7/8/03</I></div> <div> When I arrived the BOCC was discussing a critical area grant with Denis Canavan.  He came for a budget amendment to decrease the $24,482 shortfall in State funding.  Canavan said there was a 3 week backlog in critical area permits.  This money funds half of Teresa Dent’s and Sue Veith’s salaries.  Raley and Jarboe noted that a cut in critical area hurt us greatly.  McK said we have the third greatest amount of waterfront.  Raley said we have a new member of the Critical Area Commission and he is noted for cost cutting.  McK said Dyson is the chair of the Environmental Matters Committee.   Surely he knew these cuts were coming when he decided not to look for additional revenue, like slots, said McK.  </div> <div> Employment contracts were approved for George Forrest and Jennifer Fabbricante.  </div> <div> McK noted there will be an welcome for the new County Administrator and the Lt. Governor will be here.  </div> <div> McK then announced the agenda for the rest of the day as a tour of a landscaping nursery, a greenhouse, a vegetable processing facility, and a Virginia winery.  </div> <div> They want to discuss possibilities for our farmers.  Comm McKay said his ball game starts at 6:00 PM. We didn’t return until about 7:00. </div> <div> A van belonging to Marcey House was borrowed for the trip.  The group, which included George Forrest, John Savich, and Denis Canavan went to Little Hackley Farm in the 7<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> District where Denison Landscaping is operating a nursery for landscaping materials.  This farm is one of two such farms operated by Denison, and Denison is looking for contract growers.  St. Mary’s farmers would be welcome to make arrangements with Denison to provide “product”.  This farm includes a 300 gallon per minute well into “the deep aquifer”.  The irrigation system that well feeds can be turned on from the Prince Georges County office of the Denison.  Denison noted that the rain had done more damage to their “product” than last year’s drought. Little Hackley contains waterfront acreage, but Denison will put its farm into ag preservation as soon as the State can process its application. </div> <div> From Little Hackley Farm we went to Upper Mattaponi Farm where Jamie Raley, former Sheriff’s Deputy, is operating a greenhouse from which he sells plants to Bell Nurseries.  His greenhouse cost approximately $310,000, and encloses ½ acre.  From March through June the Raleys raise two crops of plant stock, which they purchase from Bell Nursery and sell back when the plants reach market size.  Bell is looking for more farmers, so there is an opportunity for St. Mary’s farmers here as well.  The $310,000 warehouse will be paid for in 5 years, said Raley, and they expect to make about $70,000 per year over the mortgage payment. The greenhouse contains an amazing automated watering system which is also fed by a big well.  The empty greenhouse was full of multiple species of dead dragonflies and butterflies.  </div> <div> Lawton Hall farm was the next stop.  There Steve Purvins grows three acres of wine grapes to Woodhalls (?)Winery.  At Raley’s store, you can buy Woodhalls Wine made entirely from St. Mary’s County grapes.  Look for the sticker on the bottles. Mr. Purvins got 12 tons of grapes from his three acres last year, and thinks he may get as many as 15 tons this year.  Lots of hand work is needed during the growing season, but there is nothing to do in the winter.  Woodhalls is looking for more good wine grapes.  </div> <div> Next the party boarded the Samuel M. Bailey and motored across the Potomac to Colonial Beach where we heard the mayor extol the virtues of careful planning and control of growth.  They zone their commercial property for conditional uses which require approval from the town.  If they don’t think the project will benefit the town, they don’t approve it.  They have two new waterfront hotels operating at the waterfront.</div> <div> We were late leaving Colonial Beach, and so went directly to the Ingleside Winery at Oak Grove, Virginia.  Ingleside gave us a tour of the wine making facilities and told us that in California Ingleside would be a large small winery.  They grow their own grapes, and make several delicious wines, including a Blue Crab Blanc and a Blue Crab Red which I liked.  But I like sweet wines, and my favorite was the October Harvest, a sweet wine used for communion, and a less sweet Colonial Rose.  I shall be looking for Ingleside the next time I need wine for a meal.  </div> <div> From Ingleside we went to the Parker Farms Vegetable Packing Facility The building was constructed by the State of Virginia, and is leased to the Northern Neck Vegetable Growers Association.  During the growing season Parker employees  work 18 hour days finding buyers for produce.  Some years it is a highly profitable place to sell produce.  Other years the market is not so good and farmers get less for their product.  The building has a hydrocooler which can cool flats full of crates with corn in them in about minutes, taking the temperature from 100 degrees to 40 degrees in that time.  The refrigeration unit has 8 compressors.  They appeared to be about 50 hp.  If so, the hydrocooler had 400 tons a refrigeration.  After hydrocooling, the corn goes into a holding box where the temperature is lowered from 40 degrees to 33 degrees overnight.  We returned to the Samuel M. Bailey for the journey back to St. Mary’s County.  The Bailey Boat is available for hire.  It will hold up to 23 people, and is a great way to travel.</div> <bR> <div>   </div> </td> </tr></table></body>