By: Mike Kennedy mkennedy@railey.com 301-616-6106 September 3rd, 2010 Category: Garrett County News, News

Deep Creek Lake manager Carolyn Mathews is reporting that DNR will proceed forward with the previously proposed changes in the PWC (personal watercraft) docking regulations.  However, there was one major change - the proposal will not require the $100 permit fee for PWCs as was originally proposed.

This new regulation will essentially ban all PWC stands that currently exist along the shoreline of Deep Creek Lake. Once approved through the permit process lakefront homeowners will now have to moor their PWCs to their dock. Lake access homeowners will have to moor their PWCs to the community boat dock.

The proposal and public comments can be found at this link;

http://dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/western/deepcreeknrma.asp

If you are a dock permit holder you can probably expect to receive notice in the mail from DNR sometime in the near future.

By: Mike Kennedy mkennedy@railey.com 301-616-6106 June 2nd, 2010 Category: Garrett County News, News

There is no new progress to report on the proposed changes to the lake regulations dealing with how many personal watercraft may be moored at private Type A and common boat docks. This proposed regulation would essentially get rid of all the PWCs stands that can found along the shoreline. Deep Creek Lake Manager Carolyn Mathews has stated that during the public comment period the DNR received several very detailed comments and concerns against the proposed changes to the lake regulations

Ms. Mathews also reported that the Superintendent of the Park Service, Nita Settina, found the comments to be of merit and is giving them due consideration before moving forward with any changes. Ms. Settina plans to visit Deep Creek Lake this summer and will weigh the points brought forth in the comments against the proposed regulation changes and may suggest an alternative to the proposal.

The public comments on the changes are posted on the Deep Creek Lake website at…

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/western/deepcreeknrma.asp

Updates will be posted on this website as they are made available. This is the new DNR website for information about the lake. This site is separate from the state park website and will have more lake specific information posted over time.

By: Mike Kennedy mkennedy@railey.com 301-616-6106 April 5th, 2010 Category: Deep Creek Lake Buyer Info, Deep Creek Lake Real Estate, News

Last fall the Deep Creek Lake Management office sent a letter to all dock permit holders outlining proposed changes concerning the way PWCs (personal watercrafts) will be docked/stored at lakefront sites. These changes to the regulations will essentially get rid of all current PWC racks/stands on the shoreline. The public comment period ended a few months ago and the proposed changes to the regulations are expected to be approved by the State of Maryland in the very near future.

As usual, and until notified otherwise, all Type A dock permit holders will be allowed to dock two (2) power vessels and one (1) non-power vessel (most likely a sailboat) at their dock.  If you posses a Special Permit you WILL be allowed to place a PWC that weighs LESS than 500 pounds on a shoreline rack/stand for the meantime - but you will also receive a letter notifying you of forthcoming changes.  Under current regulations, any PWC that weighs MORE than 500 pounds is NOT permitted on a shoreline rack/stand. Nearly all PWCs manufactured in the last 10 years weigh more than 500 pounds. Most lakefront homeowners currently store their 500 (+) plus pound PWCs on manufactured stands and racks on the shoreline and not tied up to their boat dock.

Early this summer, DNR is expected to take applications from dock permit holders that will allow them to have 1 PWC permitted at their boat dock.  (PWCs are permitted at docks now but since they are more than 500 pounds they are considered a power vessel by definition). If approved, the new permit will then be valid for two (2) power vessels, one (1) PWC, and one (1) non-power vessel. This application will cost an additional $100 on top of the normal $200 paid in the spring. DNR expects to issue these new buffer strip permits for one (1) additional PWC at docks starting sometime later this summer.

It appears that all Type A permits will now have the ability to be granted three (3) power vessels and one (1) non-power vessel at their lakefront home - however, one of the three power vessels will have to be a PWC. This new regulation will benefit the lakefront homeowners who only have 1 power boat at their dock now and 2 PWCs on shoreline stands/racks - or the homeowners who have 2 boats now at their dock and 1 PWC on a stand. This new regulation will basically allow all 3 to be tied up their dock.

However, this new regulation appears to hurt the lakefront homeowner who already has 2 power boats at their dock now -for example, a Cobalt and a pontoon boat - and who also has 2 PWCs stored on shoreline stands/racks. This new regulation is going to force these homeowners to get rid of one of their PWCs - or get rid of one of their power boats. This situation of 2 boats and 2 PWCs is very common around Deep Creek Lake.

Homeowners in lake access communities with common docks may also suffer a bit with these new regulations. For common docks, DNR is going to permit 3 PWCs per every 10 approved boat slips. Therefore, the homeowner who has a power boat in one of the slips in the common dock and a PWC on a shoreline stand may be forced to get rid of either the boat or PWC if there are numerous PWCs in that particular community.

The intent of this change is to get rid of all PWC racks/stands on the shoreline - as DNR viewed these stands as an abuse of the number of power vessels docked/stored at these homeowner sites.

By: Mike Kennedy mkennedy@railey.com 301-616-6106 August 28th, 2009 Category: News

Recently, DNR’s Deep Creek Lake Manager, Carolyn Matthews, released proposed changes to the current lake regulations that deal with the docking and mooring of personal watercrafts (PWCs) at permitted Type A boat docks and common docks.

It is proposed that lakefront property owners with private Type A dock permits (also known as Buffer Strip Use Permits) may keep up to 4 boats (current regulations only allow for 3 boats) on the lake - 3 of which may be a combination of power boats and personal watercraft provided the permit holder pays an additional $100 permit fee. These property owners may also keep beached boats on the shoreline provided they weigh less than 500 lbs.  The current regulations only allow for 2 power boats and 1 non power boat (a sailboat for example) - but many lakefront property owners also keep either one or two PWCs at their docks in addition to the 2 power and 1 non power boats.  When PWCs were smaller and could be beached on the shoreline this wasn’t such a big deal - but now that most PWCs weigh more than 500 lbs and need to be moored at a dock this has become a much bigger issue for DNR.

It is also proposed that the Lake Manager will be given authority to monitor and approve the number of PWCs that can be moored at a common dock for the various lake access communities around Deep Creek Lake. The proposal states that the amount of PWCs moored at these types of docks will not exceed 1/3rd of the allocated number of slips already approved. This proposal does not say whether the PWC must be moored to the dock in the water or if it can be moored on an individual PWC stand on the shoreline. Most lake access property owners are allocated one (1)  boat slip in a community or neighborhood association’s common dock. However, some owners in these communities also own PWCs in addition to a boat and have kept the PWC on a shoreline stand near the common dock. This proposal may very well eliminate the PWCs stands you see near these common docks.

Public comment on this issue will probably run from October 9th, 2009 thru November 9th, 2009. You can make Public Comment on DNR’s website about the proposed PWC docking changes by clicking here.

These proposals will affect many property and real estate owners around Deep Creek Lake so stay tuned for further updates. When we get additional details we’ll post the information on this blog. To stay updated please sign up for updates via e-mail or RSS a little ways down the right hand side of our main blog page.