Comments on: Deep Creek Lake Zoning and Garrett County Ordinance Update

By: Deep Creek Lake Real Estate Blog » Blog Archive » Hearing on Proposed Zoning Changes Rescheduled to March 6, 2010

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:58:03 +0000

[...] and how they may affect Deep Creek Lake and Garrett County real estate can be found in this previous post. As always, we strongly urge you to become familiar with these changes, ask questions, and register [...]

By: Mike Kennedy

Mike Kennedy — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:08:39 +0000

The Planning Commission’s public hearing is scheduled for Saturday, February 6th, 2010 starting at 10:00 am at Garrett College. The Planning Commission did decide to have a Saturday meeting instead of a Thursday evening meeting to be more accommodating to the absentee DCL property owners.

By: Charles Vinal

Charles Vinal — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:25:58 +0000

Thank you Mike. I think you are exactly right that existing property owners are unaware and unable to voice their concerns. Most zoning meetings are scheduled during the day on work days, when most of the DCL property owners are not available to comment. Existing owners of second homes pay the majority of property taxes in the area, and their interests should be represented, but they are not. Please let us know when the public hearings are, and what ideas that you have to help represent absentee (but tax paying) property owner’s interests.

By: Mike Kennedy

Mike Kennedy — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:59:27 +0000

Glad you have expressed your views. I have been present at all the public sessions since these proposals were announced - from the public information meeting back in October to the subsequent Garrett County Planning Commission meetings each month. It did appear to me that the members of the Planning Commission and Jon Nelson’s office did take into consideration all public comment that had been made - from people who spoke at the meetings - to the people who e-mailed their comments. In fact, in one meeting they read all 130 e-mails and discussed each one. However, most of the public comment I heard them discuss in these meetings were comments and concerns from developer types. I think with proposals like this the county doesn’t do a good enough job getting the information out to all property owners who will be affected - they don’t mail announcements - all they really do is put an ad in The Republican newspaper which isn’t read by all the absentee owners who own property here. Most other jurisdictions in the country will actually mail announcements. We do our best to get the word out on issues like via this blog and our Resort Report newsletter but even if some property owners take notice of zoning changes like this they almost need a law degree to actually understand them. It’s not easy stuff to read and comprehend. The County Commissioners will still hold a public hearing so their is still time for property owners to make public comment. I’ll continue to post updates on this blog as things develop with these zoning changes.

By: Charles Vinal

Charles Vinal — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 15:28:43 +0000

I sincerely hope that there are not further reductions in the restrictions on building homes on the mountains and slopes around DCL. In the past few years, all existing property owners have seen a decrease in their property values as the sides of mountains and the tops of ridges have been clearcut to make way for giant homes - replacing the beautiful trees that create a magnificant vista through out the year. If someone wants a lakefront view from every room, they should have to pay the top dollar that lakefront owners paid for their properties - they should not clearcut the trees around the home and ruin the experience for existing property owners and visitors. The original restrictions allowed for views from homes while preserving the beauty of the area - maybe 80%% coverage is too much, but 50% coverage would have been a good compromise - but 0% in front? This is truly developers having their way at existing owners expense.