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.

From DeepCreekTImes.com:

The Property Owner’s Association of Deep Creek Lake sent this letter to the commissioners regarding the mini-marina zoning amendment.  A copy of the staff-prepared report is here and a map of potential properties that could offer rentals under the amendment is here. 

GARRETT COUNTY, MD – Deep Creek Lake is located in Western Maryland and is a vacation spot for people ranging from those who live in nearby metropolitan cities to all around the East Coast.

“We have Deep Creek Lake which is good with anything in the water like boating and kayaking and we also have a ski resort here in the winter time,” says Sarah Duck, Garrett County Chamber of Commerce.

You can go paddle boarding, tubing, or just soak up the sunshine on a boat.

“It’s a real short drive and it’s a beautiful area,” says Jack Carter from Wisp Resort. “It’s not as humid as the D.C. area and so in the summer time you can come out here and escape to the cooler climate.”

More here.

Circuit Court Judge Jim Sherbin has deemed that the Deep Creek Lake Watershed Zoning Ordinance “mini-marina” amendments are defective and that the issuance of a permit to Lakeside Creamery owner Bill Meagher was, consequently, an error. Sherbin made his declaratory judgment on Tuesday, following a lengthy civil case.

St. Moritz Properties LLC, Bill’s Marine Service Inc., and Silver Tree Marine LLC filed a case against the Garrett County Board of Zoning Appeals, GC commissioners, and Meagher last year. The plaintiffs asked the court for a ruling on the legality of the amendments and the permit issuance.

Meagher submitted a proposal in spring 2012 to the Planning Commission and county commissioners to add a new category of use in the zoning ordinance that would allow “boat rentals, including boat rides and boat tours, as a separate business and not offering any other services associated with the marina.”

The Planning Commission approved the amendment and passed its recommendation on to the commissioners, who held a public hearing on the issue on May 31, 2012.

Information about the category contained the following sentence from the ordinance’s Table of Dimensional Requirements: “The use would require a minimum land area of 10,000 square feet in any districts where it is permitted.” One section of the ordinance states that a minimum of 10,000 square feet is required for the “sale or rental of recreational vehicles.”

The commissioners voted on the amendment on June 5, 2012. Commissioners Bob Gatto and Gregan Crawford approved the proposal. Commissioner Jim Raley voted against it, citing reservations about “unanswered uncertainties.

After the zoning administrator granted a marina permit to Meahger, the plaintiffs filed an appeal with the Deep Creek Lake Watershed Zoning Board of Appeals. The board heard the case last fall.

The plaintiffs and their lawyers questioned the legality of the amendment and permit issuance. They indicated there were several problems with the new land use and said Meagher did not meet the land-size qualifications.

By a vote of three to one, the appeals board upheld the decision to grant Meagher a permit, which allowed him to move forward with his plans to rent personal water crafts and pontoon boats to customers this year.

The plaintiffs pursued their case in Circuit Court, with various hearings held over the course of several months.

“The decision of the Garrett County Board of Zoning Appeals in this matter is reversed,” Sherbin wrote in his order this week about the permit issuance.

He also indicated that “the court need not reach the issue of compliance with the minimum [land] area requirements.”

More here.