Elaine Blaisdell Cumberland Times-News
OAKLAND — The owner of Lakeside Creamery at Deep Creek Lake has been ordered to cease operations of a mini-marina located on his property until a zoning issue is decided in Circuit Court.
During a hearing in June in Garrett County Circuit Court, Judge Jim Sherbin found that a zoning amendment that allowed Bill Meagher to run the mini-marina was of no legal effect and ordered that the decision by the county’s Board of Zoning Appeals to issue Meagher a permit be reversed.
The court issued the cease and desist order on June 26.
St. Moritz Properties LLC, Bill’s Marine Service Inc. and Silver Tree Marine LLC filed recently filed a motion to amend the order that was issued by Sherbin in June to add the following sentence at the end, “it is further ordered that Meagher/ Lakeside shall immediately cease and desist from operating the boat rental business on the property located at 20282 Garrett Highway in that it is enjoined by this order from doing so.”
Meagher rents personal watercrafts and pontoon boats.
The order was amended to make it clear that Meagher shouldn’t be operating without a permit, according to Greg Skidmore of Skidmore, Alderson and Duncan of Oakland, who is representing local marinas. Meagher has until July 3 to respond to the order that he cease and desists operations.
Meagher has operated the mini-marina for over a year on an invalid permit and even after the decision was made in June continued to operate, according to Skidmore.
“Even after the order, Meagher/Lakeside continue to defiantly operate the boat rental business without a permit and is clear violation of the Zoning ordinance and should not be permitted to do so,” Skidmore said in legal documents
On June 5, 2012, the county commissioners voted to make amendments to the Deep Creek Watershed Zoning ordinance to allow Meagher to have a marina that doesn’t offer the services associated with it.
A boat rental permit was issued by the Board of Zoning Appeals on June 11, 2012, to Meagher. St. Moritz Properties LLC, Bill’s Marine Service Inc. and Silver Tree Marine LLC appealed the issuance of the permit. The Board of Zoning Appeals denied the appeal and upheld the issuance of the permit.
Contact Elaine Blaisdell at eblaisdell@times-news.com.
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Jay Ferguson
Who I Am
My name is Jay Ferguson, and I am a lifelong resident of the Deep Creek Lake area. I am also co-owner of the real estate side of Taylor Made. I have been in the real estate business for 21+ years now and I LOVE what I do! I have to say, my career really took off when I co-founded the real estate side of Taylor Made in 2014. Its been an amazing experience, building a real estate company from the ground up and achieving so much so quickly! In August 2016, we purchased Long & Foster Real Estate Deep Creek, where I had started my career in 2000. In 2018, we on-boarded virtually every agent from Coldwell Banker Deep Creek Realty as they closed up shop and the real estate family grew even more! We now have over 40 sales agents and have expanded to West Virginia and Pennsylvania, as well. Taylor Made is the #1 vacation rental company at Deep Creek with over 475 vacation rental homes, and over one hundred thousand yearly visitors. Its amazing what we have accomplished using the principles of honesty, teamwork and customer service!
Personally, my wife Jessica and I enjoy traveling and especially spending time in the outdoors, hiking and exploring the many diverse areas that Garrett County is naturally blessed with. We have raised two wonderful children here, Kayleah (22) and Noah (13). In the summer, we love spending time on the water with friends & family and enjoying the lake life! We are both active in our church, our community & local school activities, and we fill our schedule with plenty of volunteer efforts. I currently serve on the board of directors for Habitat for Humanity. I am proud to say that I was named Deep Creek Time’s Favorite ‘Community Champion’ in 2019. I was also named Garrett County Realtor of the Year in 2018-19, as well.
I really enjoy promoting my hometown. I am very proud of the resort area that has developed over my lifetime and look forward to growing the area even more! Deep Creek Lake has been described as ‘The Lake Tahoe of the east', and I think that speaks volumes about the potential to own property here! Deep Creek Lake isn't really a town or city by itself; it's comprised of three towns: Oakland, Swanton & McHenry, Maryland. I am very passionate about my hometown and am impressed with how many people know about it as we travel around the country. Deep Creek Lake is an amazing place to visit and even better place to live! During the pandemic in 2020, our market exploded and more and more people left their primary residence in the city to live here permanently. With distance learning in schools and tele-commuting becoming the ‘norm’, many more people were drawn to the area to ‘live where they love to play’.
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have extensively trained in all areas of real estate & emerging technologies, and also have trained as an appraiser, as well as served as a full-time Broker. I have a strong knowledge of the industry, as well as many trusted local contacts & affiliations that allow me to perform at a very high level and deliver results. I have a great deal of respect for my peers in this industry and have strong working relationships that I would love to put to work for you.
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