WINFIELD -- Construction has started on a clubhouse and apartments in an upscale Scott Depot development, the contractor said just hours after the Putnam County commissioners approved a funding plan for related off-site road and utility improvements.

Workers have started framing a 6,000-square-foot clubhouse and preparing the slab foundations for multi-unit residential structures in the Devonshire development, Cathcart Construction President Marshall Armstrong said Tuesday afternoon.

The county planning office in June approved permits for the construction of six townhouse and the clubhouse and three 28-unit apartments in the Wexford Village section of Devonshire, a development planned to have more than 800 units in 12 to 18 years. Cathcart Properties Inc. of Charlottesville, Va., unveiled the plan in May 2006.

The company agreed to extend a sewer main and add a turn lane into the area, improvements that won commission approval Tuesday for tax increment financing, or TIF, since they will serve the surrounding area as well as Devonshire.

The original proposal also included extending the waterline into the development, but that item was dropped the request of the West Virginia Development Office in its review of the project, bond counsel John Stump told commissioners.

The amended proposal, now approved by both the state and county, provides that bonds for the work may be repaid with increases in property taxes from the previously designated tax district that includes Devonshire.

"You have approved the project plans," Stump told commissioners. "Now they can start incurring costs relative to the TIF."

The commission order did not address issuance of the bonds, which will also require approval, he said.

In an unrelated development, Stump said the closing was set for Wednesday for bonds to fund extending water lines to about seven rural areas of the county. A contractor has been selected, but work has been on hold until the bonds were sold.

In other business, commissioners:

-- Adjusted upward for water bond repayment the budget for the fiscal year that started July 1, bringing the total in that item just under $200,000. Coal severance revenue in the just-ended fiscal year exceeded estimates, county administrator Brian Donat said.

-- Approved payments from the 911 fund, money collected from telephone users, to reflect a $21,000 bill to replace a recording device and $25,000 to reimburse the general county fund for expenses.

-- Learned from commissioner Joe Haynes that the just-ended annual county fair drew record crowds. Also a member of the county health board, Haynes said the group is currently advertising for an administrator. Former administrator Bob Peck earlier this year resigned under pressure for reasons that have not been disclosed.            

WINFIELD -- Construction has started on a clubhouse and apartments in an upscale Scott Depot development, the contractor said just hours after the Putnam County commissioners approved a funding plan for related off-site road and utility improvements.

Workers have started framing a 6,000-square-foot clubhouse and preparing the slab foundations for multi-unit residential structures in the Devonshire development, Cathcart Construction President Marshall Armstrong said Tuesday afternoon.

The county planning office in June approved permits for the construction of six townhouse and the clubhouse and three 28-unit apartments in the Wexford Village section of Devonshire, a development planned to have more than 800 units in 12 to 18 years. Cathcart Properties Inc. of Charlottesville, Va., unveiled the plan in May 2006.

The company agreed to extend a sewer main and add a turn lane into the area, improvements that won commission approval Tuesday for tax increment financing, or TIF, since they will serve the surrounding area as well as Devonshire.

The original proposal also included extending the waterline into the development, but that item was dropped the request of the West Virginia Development Office in its review of the project, bond counsel John Stump told commissioners.

The amended proposal, now approved by both the state and county, provides that bonds for the work may be repaid with increases in property taxes from the previously designated tax district that includes Devonshire.

"You have approved the project plans," Stump told commissioners. "Now they can start incurring costs relative to the TIF."

The commission order did not address issuance of the bonds, which will also require approval, he said.

In an unrelated development, Stump said the closing was set for Wednesday for bonds to fund extending water lines to about seven rural areas of the county. A contractor has been selected, but work has been on hold until the bonds were sold.

In other business, commissioners:

-- Adjusted upward for water bond repayment the budget for the fiscal year that started July 1, bringing the total in that item just under $200,000. Coal severance revenue in the just-ended fiscal year exceeded estimates, county administrator Brian Donat said.

-- Approved payments from the 911 fund, money collected from telephone users, to reflect a $21,000 bill to replace a recording device and $25,000 to reimburse the general county fund for expenses.

-- Learned from commissioner Joe Haynes that the just-ended annual county fair drew record crowds. Also a member of the county health board, Haynes said the group is currently advertising for an administrator. Former administrator Bob Peck earlier this year resigned under pressure for reasons that have not been disclosed.