Saving Urbanna Creek was favorite issue for outgoing MC supervisor

by Larry Chowning –

Former Saluda District supervisor Pete Mansfield will be remembered for his environmental efforts to save Urbanna Creek, his vigilance in protecting the drinking water sources in the region, and his stand alone effort to keep Middlesex County from becoming a gun sanctuary.

Mansfield, 81, decided not to run in the November 2021 election and Don Harris of Stormont won the election and is now the Saluda representative on the Middlesex County Board of Supervisors.

Mansfield served three terms —totaling 12 years — as the district’s supervisor. Mansfield brought issues up that sometimes bewildered other board members and he was noted for listening to all sides of issues.

“My favorite issue is of course saving Urbanna Creek,” he said. Mansfield has preached from day one that the Urbanna sewage treatment plant needed to be closed down and sewage diverted elsewhere.

Although, he has not seen that happen, Hampton Roads Sanitation District is planning to shut-down the two small sewage treatment plants emptying into Urbanna Creek. Mansfield says that all sewage discharges will be out of the creek by 2025. The Urbanna and Middle Peninsula Regional Security Center sewage treatment plant in Saluda will be shut down and sewage will be pumped to Cooks Corner where it will be directed to Yorktown to be treated and discharged into the York River. Mansfield has been a voice behind this effort. “I will feel relieved when that happens,” he said.