Staff Reports
On April 8, 2026, the Warren County Planning Commission quietly voted to declare a proposed Rappahannock Electric Cooperative substation at 386 Ashby Station Road “substantially in accord” with the county’s Comprehensive Plan — a decision reached without a formal public hearing. The application covers an 11-acre industrial substation siting on a much larger 141‑acre parcel, and the item was listed on the agenda as a “Comprehensive Plan Review,” a procedural label that left neighbors blindsided.
At the meeting several commissioners admitted discomfort with the lack of public input, and one commissioner even abstained rather than rubber‑stamp a move that bypassed normal hearings; the commission nonetheless urged the utility to hold a charrette after the fact. Officials leaned on the need for infrastructure and warned of potential reliability issues if action wasn’t taken, but those arguments cannot replace transparency and due process.
Local residents and the newly organized North Warren Citizens Alliance were rightfully alarmed — they say no adjacent landowners were notified, their Freedom of Information Act request about communications surrounding the parcel remains unanswered, and the group filed a formal appeal to the Board of Supervisors. What’s being described on the ground is not controversial public engagement but a process that smells of being rushed to meet a private contract deadline while citizens were kept in the dark.
A number of sensible people on the commission warned that this parcel had faced fierce opposition the last time someone tried to industrialize it, and they predicted the public reaction would be sharp. That should have been the moment to step back, insist on a full, open hearing, and let local voices be heard — instead, the majority pushed the plan forward and left neighbors to fight after the fact.
The North Warren Citizens Alliance formally appealed the April 8 decision on April 10, 2026 and urged the Board to remand the matter for a public hearing; they also encouraged residents to appear at the special hearing scheduled for April 14, 2026 and the Board meeting on April 22, 2026. Those dates mattered because Virginia law and common sense both demand that citizens be given a meaningful opportunity to challenge land‑use actions that affect their property values, water, and rural way of life.
Patriots who believe in local control and property rights should not be reflexively anti‑infrastructure — reliable electricity matters — but infrastructure must be built the American way: openly, lawfully, and with respect for neighbors. When public bodies or utilities use procedural shortcuts, they invite distrust and courtroom fights that cost taxpayers and communities far more than the time it takes to hold a hearing.
This episode is a warning sign: whether it’s utilities, developers, or overreaching bureaucrats, the common thread is a contempt for everyday Americans’ right to know and to be heard. Conservatives should stand with the farmers and families who wake up every day to work this land, demand that the Board of Supervisors do its duty, and insist that no industrial footprint is forced onto rural Virginia without a full, public airing of the facts.
