![\"\"](\"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/three-1.jpg\")
<\/a>Thorne and George Miller address citizens
gathering April 3, 2023, Cacapon State Park
(Photo credit: Sadie Dingfelder)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
Delegate George Miller (R-90), who is also opposed to the Blue Water RV proposal, attended Monday night\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Miller said he has asked for a meeting with Governor Jim Justice but has not heard back from the Governor\u2019s office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Monday night, Miller said he was going to call on Attorney General Patrick Morrisey to look into the deal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I go down to Charleston next week, I\u2019m looking to be able to talk to the Attorney General,\u201d Miller told the gathering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m on the same page you are on,\u201d Miller told the gathering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And what page is that? he was asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the front cover,\u201d he responded. \u201cI\u2019m going to go in and talk to him and see what can be done about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This Blue Water development couldn\u2019t have happened without the legislature passing HB 4408, the law that was passed in March 2022 to enable private corporations like Blue Water to develop public state parks like Cacapon?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s correct,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Was HB 4408 passed so that this 350 RV park could go in at Cacapon?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know for sure, but it sure as hell looks like it,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a>(Photo credit: Carol Caflisch)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
On April 3, Miller said that he \u201cscrewed up\u201d by initially supporting HB 4408 before eventually changing his mind and voting against the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Attorney General Morrisey announced last week that he was running for Governor. Governor Justice is eyeing a Senate run in 2024. Justice would face off in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat against Congressman Alex Mooney.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Attorney General Morrisey, Congressman Mooney and Senator Joe Manchin have all been invited to attend the group\u2019s next meeting on April 17 at 6 pm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Delegates from Morgan County \u2013 Miller and Darren Thorne (R-89) \u2013 have come out opposed to the Blue Water proposal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As has the Morgan Messenger <\/em>in an editorial last week titled \u2013 RV Proposals Don\u2019t Fit Cacapon.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Also last week, the Morgan County Commission came out with a letter to Chief of Parks Brad Reed<\/a> against any large-scale (more than 100 sites) RV park at Cacapon State Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Commission cited excessive traffic and safety issues, overcapacity at the park\u2019s sewer plant and clear-cutting of trees and excessive excavation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo put it bluntly, we cannot imagine the impact that an RV park of the size and scope of two of the proposals would have on Cacapon State Park and we don\u2019t feel it would be for the better,\u201d the Commissioners wrote. \u201cOn the contrary, we feel like it would diminish many of the reasons the folks visit our park to begin with \u2013 the natural beauty, the historical significance and the peaceful tranquility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last year, Todd Burbage, the CEO of Blue Water, in response to a question about Blue Water developing RV campgrounds in state parks<\/a>, said \u201cwe\u2019re actually in high level talks with one of the Mid Atlantic states right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey\u2019re actually being wildly helpful with us,\u201d Burbage said. \u201cThe Governor and even a federal Senator asked us to come see him. I came to the Governor\u2019s state house.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last week, we wrote to Burbage asking him if he was referring to West Virginia Governor Jim Justice and Cacapon State Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Burbage wrote back: \u201cI have had zero communication with the West Virginia Governor or any Senators about Cacapon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHave you ever spoken with Governor Jim Justice?\u201d we asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPlease see my original reply,\u201d Burbage wrote back. \u201cIt answers all of your questions to date. Now, I\u2019m very busy. Happy to talk and correspond when I return to the USA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We invited Burbage or any executive to come and meet with the community on April 17 at 6 pm to address their concerns about the Blue Water proposal. Burbage said he would be out of the country on April 17, but would try and arrange for another Blue Water representative to be there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last December, before the RFP was announced, former Delegate Ruth Rowan (R-89) asked the West Virginia Secretary of Commerce Ben Bailey whether the RFP would involve Cacapon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bailey confirmed Cacapon was a possibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPeople would really encourage seeing 50 camp sites \u2013 possibly 60,\u201d Rowan told Bailey<\/a>. \u201cBut talking about 100, they\u2019re concerned about conservation of the area, especially the locals. And as a camper, I\u2019m concerned. When I go camping, it\u2019s to get out in nature. If we\u2019re talking about 100 sites in the area, we could be talking about bumper-to-bumper. So I do have a concern there.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere is a public notice and public hearing component of this process,\u201d Bailey replied. \u201cWe, of course, would be soliciting input from the public before we executed any type of contract. And to the concern, I would say that I agree. If you\u2019re bumper-to-bumper, that\u2019s not an attractive campground situation. The last thing that we\u2019re going to do is build something that is not appealing to the folks that use the parks. You\u2019re not going to get very much business if you build downtown Manhattan in Cacapon State Park.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n (As of this morning, 777 people have signed a petition calling on Bailey, Governor Justice and other state government officials to withdraw the RFP. savecacapon.org<\/a>).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n At Monday\u2019s meeting at the upper lake, citizens expressed concern about whether or not the April 18 at 5 pm public hearing met the requirements of the state\u2019s open meeting law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bailey, a key decision maker, reportedly won\u2019t even be present at the Cacapon Lodge for the April 18 meeting. He might be there via zoom. But the meeting will be held in person by Parks Chief Reed and local park officials. And it won\u2019t be a traditional public hearing, where citizens go up to a microphone one by one and make their concerns known. Instead, it will be a Department of Highways style meeting where three tables will be set up \u2013 one for each of the proposals. And citizens will go to the tables to learn about the proposals and register their concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the Messenger<\/em> reported this week <\/a>that the state had not taken out legal notice of the meeting in the county’s only newspaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Update April 12, 2023 2:36 pm: A spokesperson for the West Virginia Department of Commerce said that in fact the legal notice announcing the public hearing was published on March 27 and April 3, 2023 in the Martinsburg Journal. (See legal notice here<\/a>)).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" More than 120 citizens opposed to Blue Water Development\u2019s 350 RV campground proposal for Cacapon State Park in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia gathered Monday night at the park\u2019s upper lake \u2013 up from about 90 citizens who gathered on April … Continue reading