Company Submits Revised Plan For Jefferson Co. Water Bottling Plant

Updated on Friday, November 22 at 1:25 p.m.

A California company has submitted updated plans for a Jefferson County facility that would package local groundwater into water bottles, signaling their intent to move forward despite significant community pushback.

Sidewinder Enterprises submitted the revised concept plan for Mountain Pure Water Bottling Facility to the Jefferson County Planning Commission Monday. The modifications come after the commission voted unanimously last week that the company’s initial concept plan was incomplete.

Commissioners and local residents who attended the Nov. 12 meeting voiced concerns about the project’s toll on agriculture, water resources, traffic and the local environment. But ultimately, the commission’s decision centered around a technical issue with the initial draft.

Sidewinder’s proposed water bottling facility would include six parcels of land straddling the small, unincorporated community of Middleway.

The one-million-square-foot water bottling facility itself would be constructed on industrially zoned land that previously served as a manufacturing site for multinational conglomerate 3M. Company representatives say the project would create local jobs.

But the project would also incorporate two parcels of land zoned rural on the other side of town. These properties include Lake Louisa and portions of Turkey Run, local waterways that sustain the well water supply for some Middleway residents.

Sidewinder representatives said during the meeting that a new water line would connect the facility site to these sources — stretching beneath the heart of the Middleway Historic District, a cluster of centuries-old homes featured on the National Register of Historic Places.

However, the company’s initial draft omitted any reference to these rural parcels, and did not explicitly state where groundwater would be sourced.

Commissioners agreed they were unable to accept a concept plan that did not include the parcels of land where the water supply came from, because they are integral to the function of the facility as a whole.

“You can’t have a bathtub without a waterline,” Commissioner Cara Keys said.

After the five-hour meeting, representatives for Sidewinder told West Virginia Public Broadcasting that the company would promptly submit a revised concept plan with the additional plots included.

“We’ll resubmit the concept plan to cure what they had decided were the deficiencies moving forward,” said Mark Dyck, vice president of the civil engineering firm Integrity Federal Services, representing Sidewinder.

“The direction that the commission gave us was add the two parcels,” he said. “That’s the only thing they can do, because we met all the other requirements.”

The version of the concept plan that Sidewinder submitted Monday includes the two rural parcels and a clearer depiction of the water line connecting them to the facility itself.

The next meeting of the Jefferson County Planning Commission is scheduled for Dec. 17 at 7 p.m., according to the commission’s website.

The commission has the authority to call another meeting sooner, but a date for when it will review Sidewinder’s revisions has not yet been announced.

View the revised plan for Mountain Pure Water Bottling Facility:

**Editor’s Note: This story was updated to include a new upcoming meeting date for the Jefferson County Planning Commission after its Dec. 10 regular meeting was canceled.