I Love Deep Creek Blog

Thursday, December 16, 2004

Final Deep Creek Lake Study Presented to Garrett County

The final recommendations in the Deep Creek Lake Watershed Economic Growth and Planning Analysis Study were presented to the Garrett County commissioners this week.

Environmental Resource Management of Annapolis conducted the yearlong study, incorporating suggestions from a 10-member volunteer task force and the general public.

Director John Nelson, Garrett County Department of Planning and Land Development, said the task force reviewed the study last week and had additional suggestions.

Members would like more Deep Creek Lake representation on the Planning Commission and would like the county to promote Deep Creek Lake as a retirement destination.

Task force member Louise Conjura presented the commissioners with a document outlining ways to encourage more retirees to become full-time residents of Garrett County.

Judge Fred Thayer, another task force member, said he believed Conjura’s idea was unanimously supported by the other members. “[Her] document bears a lot of consideration,” he said.

“I think this is a no-brainer type issue,” said task force member Troy Ellington about promoting the lake to retirees. He noted most retirees are very active, and that their communities benefited from their economic and civic contributions.

For just a small cost to the Garrett County Chamber of Commerce and Department of Economic Development for advertising, Ellington said, the county could benefit greatly from retirees.

Two members of the task force disagreed with item 9 on page 17 of the study. The ERM consultants recommended that additional public and quasi public access points to Deep Creek Lake be established.

Task force member Dr. William Savage noted that there were already several public access points which were used mostly by non-residents. He said the points were used by persons who drove to the lake from nearby areas to fish or boat for just a few hours and do not stay in local motels or rental units.

Savage added that the points are not supervised and, therefore, littering and other problems arise. He was concerned that more access would mean even more problems.

“Let us remember that Deep Creek Lake is the engine that drives the county,” Savage told the commissioners. “Don’t let us turn this into a Coney Island.”

Commissioner Ernie Gregg said the lake access issue was somewhat of a contentious one, and noted that the lake had been purchased with taxpayer dollars.

ERM’s final recommendations along with the task force’s final comments will now be reviewed by the Planning Commission at its January and February meetings. If the commission agrees with all or most of the recommendations, local officials will then use them as a guide when adopting policies for land use, economic development, zoning, infrastructure, and other issues involving Deep Creek Lake.

The study is available on-line at http://www.garrettcounty.org/pandz/finalrecommend.pdf.

Others members appoint-ed to the task force by the Garrett County commissioners were Greig Johnson, Richard Devlin, Carl Roberts, Zachary Taylor, Bill Weissgerber, and Hugh Umbel.

Gregg commended the members for their efforts, noting that they had spent countless hours on the study project.