Category:garrett county
Garrett County’s bills to go to state Assembly
Garrett’s bills to go to state Assembly
Megan Miller
Cumberland Times-News
CUMBERLAND — Legislators met Thursday to review requests from Garrett County and determine which bills to take before the Maryland General Assembly in its current session, which began Wednesday.
Several would expand the powers of the county commission, including one bill that would enable county officials to hold a public sale of the homes of residents who are 60 or more days delinquent on payment of their water and sewer bills.
Linda Lindsey, director of the county’s Department of Public Utilities, said as of November the county was owed $282,000 in unpaid water and sewer bills.
“The county needs some mechanism to be able to collect that,” Sen. George Edwards said in a phone interview from Annapolis. “The commissioners requested this legislation, and we’ve agreed to introduce it.”
The legislators said they will also submit a bill to enable the county commission to adopt local ordinances establishing minimum setback requirements for commercial wind turbines. It would allow the commission to require turbines to be placed a minimum distance from a property line.
“The main purpose of that is if a turbine would fall down, or a blade would fly off,” Edwards explained. “You want them back far enough that if they fall down they’re not on someone else’s property.”
Another bill would allow the commission to require companies to make provisions for decommissioning wind turbines and restoring turbine sites to their original condition in the event that the turbines go out of operation.
“There might come a point where they reach the end of their life and they just sit there,” Edwards said. “In mining, you have to have bonds or some other kind of instrument to provide for reclaiming the land if the mining company stops operations. This would be the same scenario.”
The commission also requested legislation that would enable it to increase the existing hotel rental tax if needed. Currently, that tax is set at 5 percent. The draft legislation would enable the commission to increase it as high as 8 percent, though the commission has stated it would not implement a 3 percent increase all at once.
Legislators will also follow up on a bill requested by the commission granting it the ability to establish a county emergency services board.
Delegate Wendell Beitzel said he and Edwards also intend to work on a legislative solution to an ongoing problem with the availability of OB/GYN services in Garrett County.
Currently, a handful of general practitioners delivers babies in the county. If a doctor delivers more than 30 per year, the cost of medical malpractice insurance can increase by about $100,000 because of insurance stipulations. Previously, legislation was in place that subsidized the gap between the general practitioners’ malpractice insurance costs and the increase, but that has expired.
Beitzel said they also plan to reintroduce legislation called the Dormant Mineral Act, which would provide a process for landowners to recover the mineral rights to their property if it was impossible to trace the current owner of the rights.
“We put in the bill last year and it passed the House and went to the Senate, but got stuck in committee,” Beitzel said. “This year, we’ll be dropping the bill earlier to try to get it through.”
If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Long & Foster Real Estate for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350
Maryland deer shrug off weather
Md. deer shrug off weather
Michael A. Sawyers
Cumberland Times-News
INDIAN SPRINGS — The cold and snowy weather that Garrett and Allegany counties experienced during the past two weeks is barely a blip on a deer’s survival radar, according to Maryland head deer biologist.
“Deer have had time to adapt to those kinds of conditions,” said Brian Eyler of the Maryland Wildlife and Heritage Service. “I don’t anticipate any significant problems.”
Eyler said recent winters have been so mild that there has been no need for crews to walk woodland routes to look for deer mortality.
“Because this winter has had more snow we will probably do some mortality surveys, probably in March,” Eyler said Thursday. “The last survey we did was five years ago.”
Eyler said that the snow cover has disappeared east of Frederick.
“Here at Indian Springs, we have about 60 percent snow cover and that will melt fast over the next few days when the temperatures get into the middle and upper 40s.”
Eyler said agency eyebrows raise and the concern for deer survival increases if crusted ice conditions are maintained for extended periods, making it difficult for deer to move around or find food.
He said predation of deer by other animals is not a big problem in far Western Maryland, under either good or bad weather conditions.
Eyler said there is no biological reason for residents to feed deer, even during bad weather.
“I know people like to feed deer and I understand their intentions, but it isn’t needed,” he said.
“In fact, it has some bad consequences such as grouping deer where disease can be spread.”
Eyler said feeding keeps deer in one area where they also eat any natural browse that is available, thus knocking it back.
“I got a call from an Eastern Shore woman the other day and she had hit a deer on the way to work and that evening her husband hit a deer at the same spot on the highway with their other vehicle.”
Eyler said artificial feeding of deer can make them cross roadways from a lounging habitat to the feeding area, thus exposing them to more risk of getting struck by a motor vehicle.
If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Long & Foster Real Estate for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350
New Lot-Land listings - 1-13-10 - Buyer Client Update
Only one new lot/land listing in the last 24 hours. You can see the .pdf here, contact me for more info, plats, permits or details.
GA7235541 0.86 AC RT 219 $50,000 Oakland 37,462 .860 RES
(source: MRIS January 13, 2010, other brokers listings may be included. This market update posting is intended solely for buyer clients of Jay Ferguson & Long & Foster Real Estate)
If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Long & Foster Real Estate for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350
New Home Listings - 1-13-10 - Buyer Client Update
A few new residential listings were added over the last 24 hours. For more information, feel free to check out this .pdf file or contact me directly.
GA7235955 952 HIGH ST E $189,000 Oakland Rancher 3BR 1BA
GA7235773 257 MARSH HILL RD #3 $289,900 Mc Henry DEEP CREEK VILLAGE 2BR 3BA
GA7235557 228 STILWATER DR $1,690,000 Swanton STILWATER 6BR 5BA
(source: MRIS January 13, 2010, other brokers listings may be included. This market update posting is intended solely for buyer clients of Jay Ferguson & Long & Foster Real Estate)
If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Long & Foster Real Estate for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350
Craig Ingram, Real Estate Attorney
Located in scenic Garrett County, Maryland, the office of Craig Ingram provides legal and accounting services. Serving the Oakland, Deep Creek Lake and surrounding area, the legal practice concentration is in real estate transactions. Other services include business organization and estate planning, taxation, and administration. The accounting practice primarily serves those clients requiring assistance with federal and state income tax compliance.
322 Alder Street
Oakland, MD 21550
Telephone: (301) 334-3724
Fax: (301) 334-1028
http://www.cingram.com/
If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Long & Foster Real Estate for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350
Recent Lot/Land Listings - Buyer Client Update
There were 9 new land/lot listings since January 1, 2010. Some larger parcels and several building lots. THere is also one commercial property that includes several different properties, projects and communities (click for .pdf and more photos/info)
GA7234728 1 TURKEY KNOB RD $44,900 Oakland 1.700ac R
GA7235151 YOUNG WOOD LN W $74,900 Grantsville 10.600ac R
GA7234225 TRAP RUN RD $99,000 Friendsville 19.780ac
GA7229995 GARNER DR $124,500 Deer Park 3.073 LR
GA7234494 681 BOY SCOUT RD $149,000 Oakland 50.020 LR
GA7229867 3 GRAND ESTATES DR $349,000 Mc Henry .573 R
GA7233401 65 WESTWARD WAY $369,000 Mc Henry .574 LR
GA7228856 14 PARKSIDE SOUTH CT $499,000 Mc Henry .520 LR
GA7232486 25297 GARRETT HWY $4,900,000 Mc Henry 36.840 C /
(source: MLS January 1, 2010 – January 12, 2010)
If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Long & Foster Real Estate for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350
New Residential Listings - Update for Buyer Clients
There are 5 new residential listings in the Deep Creek Lake/Garrett County area that are now available for sale (click for .pdf):
GA7234937 673 NORTHLAKE VILLAGE $395,000 Mc Henry NORTHLAKE VILLAGE
GA7234193 498 GLEANINGS DR $449,000 Mc Henry THE GLEANINGS
GA7234198 475 PINNACLE DR $449,000 Swanton THE PINNACLE
GA7234716 15 MEADOW MOUTAIN RUN RD $699,900 Swanton MEADOW MOUNTAIN RUN
GA7234339 774 GLENDALE RD $799,000 Deer Park SAND STONES ON THE LAKE
(source: MLS Jan 9, 2010 – Jan 12, 2010)
If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Long & Foster Real Estate for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350
Drafts address land-use in Garrett County
‘Clustering’ now included as an option
Megan Miller
Cumberland Times-News
OAKLAND — A second round of draft updates to Garrett County land ordinances makes more concessions for development and places fewer restrictions on land use, after public protests caused officials to rethink stricter regulations in a previous draft.
The long process of updating the planning and land development ordinances entered a new phase last week with the release of revised drafts for public review. The documents — drafts of the subdivision ordinance, sensitive areas ordinance and Deep Creek watershed zoning ordinance — contain a second round of changes, following the first changes and public comment period that took place in the fall.
The first versions spurred some public uproar over a provision that would affect the development of rural resource and agricultural resource land. That provision would have required at least 66 percent of subdivision land parcels in those areas to be set aside as “resource parcels,” or open land.
The provisions do not affect the entire county, but only areas specifically designated “agricultural resource” and “rural resource.” However, those two areas do span large portions of the county.
The resource parcel stipulation was intended to protect areas of forest, natural resources and farmland from development, according to its language. It would have prevented sprawling development by requiring the majority of a parcel to be set aside, and clustering development onto lots of no minimum size on one-third of the parcel.
“It’s trying to preserve a portion of the land to keep it as productive farmland or productive timberland,” said John Nelson, director of planning and land development. “That’s the real purpose of the clustering. What we’re saying is, create smaller lots but save a portion of the land. Maybe it would belong to a homeowners association, and they could lease it as a farm.”
But many farmers and other landowners spoke out against the measure, arguing that it directly or indirectly placed too many restrictions on how the land could be used.
Paul Miller, president of the Garrett County Farm Bureau board of directors, said his organization objected because they saw the clustering requirement as an infringement on private property rights, affecting the way landowners could sell their land. It could also have driven down property values by restricting potential land uses, he said.
Due to those and other public objections, the clustering requirement has been removed in the latest draft, Nelson said. Instead, the document includes clustering as an option, and contains incentives to attempt to encourage that type of development, he explained.
Miller said the latest draft of the ordinance has addressed his concerns.
“If it holds as it is, we’re satisfied,” he said.
A provision in the first draft of the updated Deep Creek watershed zoning ordinance also caused a stir because it would have put strict requirements on development on crests and ridge lines visible from the surface or shoreline of the lake. The proposed changes also would have required trees to be planted between structures and the lake to screen them from view.
“About four years ago we had held public meetings about people’s views on changes and development in the county,” Nelson said. “The development that is occurring on the ridge lines around the lake was the No. 1 response. People were worried about the development taking away from the natural scenic beauty of those ridges.”
But the strict requirements didn’t sit well with people specifically interested in those properties for the development potential and unobstructed lake views. In the latest draft, the provision has been changed to require only that trees be planted around the sides and rear of new structures to help them blend into the surrounding vegetation, Nelson explained. No trees are required for the front, or lake-facing side.
The county planning commission has been working on the ordinance updates since spring 2009, mainly because state law requires the ordinances to be adjusted to remain consistent with changes to the county comprehensive plan adopted in 2008, according to Nelson.
A public hearing on the latest versions of the ordinances will be held in coming weeks, though nothing has been scheduled yet.
Updated versions of the ordinance drafts and maps are available online on the county Web site at. www.garrettcounty.org
If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Long & Foster Real Estate for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350
Press release: Pending changes to the Deep Creek Lake zoning ordinance
Some of the pending changes that highlight the press release:
-Changes to the subdivision laws allowing clustered vs non clustered development.
-Traffic Impact Analysis, road design standards, etc
-Allowing for drilling of natural gas in all zones subject to setbacks
-Sensitive Area Ordinance, development on steep slopes
Feel free to take a look, there will be a public hearing scheduled in the near future.
Here is a link to the .pdf file
If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Long & Foster Real Estate for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350
Virginia man injured in helicopter crash
1/8 – Va. man injured in helicopter crash
Cumberland Times-News
GRANTSVILLE — A Virginia man was taken to the Western Maryland Regional Medical Center after he crashed his helicopter in an open field near Amish Road early Wednesday evening.
Maryland State Police said Kolby Lee Reese suffered multiple injuries in the incident that occurred at about 6:15 p.m. No information was available concerning his condition.
The incident remains under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration and state police.
The helicopter is reportedly owned by Chesapeake Bay Helicopters in Chesapeake, Va. Unconfirmed reports indicated the pilot was en route to Pittsburgh when the aircraft crashed. The pilot reportedly used a cell phone to report the crash.
Garrett County 911 alerted state police, Garrett County Sheriff’s Office, Garrett County Roads Department, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Grantsville Volunteer Fire Department and Northern Garrett Rescue Squad.
If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Long & Foster Real Estate for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350
