Warren and Clarke Counties discuss boundary readjustment

As County Administrator Doug Stanley fields questions, Deputy County Administrator Bob Childress points to impacted area of Shenandoah Farms along the Warren-Clarke border. Photos/Roger Bianchini

It appears a border war between Warren and Clarke Counties in the Shenandoah Farms area will be averted – though some concerns over possible insurgent behavior has been expressed by a contracted land surveyor – sort of.

Of the potential of area citizen unhappiness at being moved from one county to the other in a final resolution of existing boundary anomalies, licensed land surveyor W. Stuart Dunn wrote the two county administrators on July 31: “It is our expectation that not all the home owners of Shenandoah Farms will be pleased with the location of the county line.  This could lead to destruction of monuments, something that cannot be controlled.  Additionally we might encounter some opposition to us completing our work.”

Dunn did not elaborate on relocation into which county from the other might be expected to cause the most citizen unhappiness.  The “monuments” Dunn referred to are placed boundary markers indicating latitude, longitude and elevations along established boundary lines.

It is the absence of such markers that has led to the current confusion surrounding the Warren-Clarke County line in Shenandoah Farms, a subdivision and Warren County Sanitary District that straddles that county line.

We went with arms outstretched in a prayerful hope for peace – Stanley and Childress may have been gesturing …

As summarized in land surveyor Dunn’s letter to the Warren and Clarke County administrators the original boundary “does not call for any monuments established at that time (1836).  Instead the description relied on a number of naturally occurring features.  This has led to some doubts as to the correct location of this line.”

With no markers placed originally and naturally-occurring landmarks referenced undergoing some changes over the last 182 years you have the current situation.  That situation, as explained by Warren County Administrator Doug Stanley and Deputy County Administrator Bob Childress at a Tuesday morning county board work session is that some citizens physically in one county are being taxed, voting and sending their children to school in the other.

Childress explained that the boundary was revisited in the 1970’s but that no definitive boundary adjustment was done at that time.

According to maps presented in the agenda packet there are 10 lots with seven homes and two building permits in place straddling the county line that would be most directly impacted.  Those lie across Howellsville Road from Warren County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company 6 headquarters.  For the most part those lots, like the fire station itself, are considered in Warren County but are actually in Clarke County.

“I don’t think Clarke has any heartburn” about adjusting the boundary of those lots into Warren County, Stanley told the supervisors.  It was observed that Company 6 serves addresses in both counties.  Stanley later told Royal Examiner that Company 6 is currently 100% managed by Warren County Fire & Rescue, with Clarke County making a contribution to its operations.

“I don’t think it’s something to fall on our sword over,” Stanley said of drawing a “(boundary) line in the sand” around the fire station.

The yellow parcels, like the fire station across Howellsville Road to upper left, are believed to be in Clarke County from the red, dotted line.

Other lots taxed in one county but physically in the other appeared to be larger Agriculturally-zoned and undeveloped lots

Stanley told the supervisors that his hope is that the two county governments will agree to a boundary realignment that as possible will keep people in the county they have believed themselves to be in, and so their children in the same school system.

Voting impacts

Stanley said the issue came to the fore from updated questions from the State Elections Board on which voting districts some county citizens were in.

“We went to Clarke officials and said ‘we have an issue that needs to be resolved,’ ” Stanley told the supervisors.

One immediate consequence of what has been discovered is that some residents who vote in Warren County but are actually physically in Clarke County, or vice versa if there are such cases, may have to alter their voting precinct or district in the upcoming November mid-term elections.

Both Warren County Registrar Carol Tobin and Building Official David Beahm attended the work session due to the potential electoral district and building permit implications of the new boundary study.

Following the revelation about the voting district alterations, Board Chairman Tony Carter drew laughter when he commented, “We may have to investigate Tom’s last election.”  Tom is Supervisor Tom Sayre, in whose Shenandoah District the boundary anomalies lie.  However, with so few residences involved Sayre’s electoral status seems safe.

Both County Registrar Carol Tobin and Building Official David Beahm were present to address potential voting district and building permit impacts.

Public Hearings next year

Stanley noted that with the necessary surveying and negotiations between the two county governments it was unlikely a public hearing on an agreed-upon plan could be held prior to the spring of 2019.

“Will they have any choice?” South River Supervisor Linda Glavis asked of citizens in the affected area.

County Administrator Stanley noted that impacted citizens on both sides of the line will have the opportunity to speak at their respective, or even both, county board public hearings on the matter.

A board consensus was reached to notify Clarke officials that Warren was ready to move forward with the boundary study.

Estimated survey costs submitted by Dunn Land Surveys, Inc. were $8,500 in establishing GPS controls; $15,500 for field survey work; and $850 per monument boundary marker.  Work beyond the initially submitted contract will be billed at $125 per hour for field work and $100 per hour for office work.