Capon Valley Coalition

The following item comes from Charlie Winfree, a Realtor, who added this as a comment on the old Capon Valley Coalition Web site on Feb. 24.

(For technical reasons, we cannot move comments from the old site to the new site. We have to copy them manually as a Web site posting. This actually guarantees that YOUR comments come from YOU.)

We thank Charlie for his input and his support.

As a full-time Realtor selling Potomac Highlands properties for the past 18 years, I can tell you that savvy buyers of quality mountain property want nothing to do with these big power lines on or near their property. Especially with so much property on the market today, they have lots of other smart choices. Anything under, or within view of these potential routes, may as well not even be on the market. They won’t come even close to compensating for all the property value declines.Selling a property now, without revealing that a potential route is on or near the property, may expose the seller and Realtor to liabilities at a later date. I’ve had to create property maps of the proposed lines as they pertain to each of the subdivisions I work within to protect all parties.

The power companies need to find another way to bring their product to market other than to trash our lands, homes, views and communities, for their corporate profits. I wish we could require anyone in favor of these lines to have to live with them, as they’re trying to cause us to do.

I suggested that to one Allegheny right-of-way official and she said that would be fine… she’d have no problem with a line/tower bordering her 1/4 ac home site in PA. Perfectly straight face. That shows you what twisted mentalities and professional liars we’re going to be working with if they build this monster. I suspect she’s already spent way too much time under high-voltage wires! You won’t get any sympathy or residual property compensation from that person! They chose her well.

Keep in mind that one of West Virginia’s best assets is the natural environment that buyers value so much. Every time we chip away at that with more big power lines, 4-lane highways and the like, we all lose and make it more like the Metro areas. But since Big Coal runs WV, this may not be the last if it.

Feb 24, 2:15 PM