Category:garrett county

OAKLAND — The Garrett County commissioners are set to make a decision on Tuesday whether or not to approve Lakeside Creamery owner William Meagher’s request to amend the Deep Creek Watershed Zoning Ordinance for a mini-marina.

Meagher has requested that a new category of use for boat rentals not offering any services associated with a marina be added to the ordinance.

On Oct. 21, the commission met with John Nelson, former director of the county Department of Planning and Land Development, Gorman Getty, county attorney, and Michael Koch, executive director De-partment of Community Planning and Development and weren’t able to reach a consensus.

A public hearing on Meagher’s request was held in September and the public comment period was held open until Oct. 8. During the standing-room-only public hearing, 10 people spoke in opposition of the proposed text amendment to the ordinance.

In July, the Garrett County Planning Commission voted to recommend that the county commissioners endorse Mea-gher’s request.

Phil St. Moritz, owner and president of Bill’s Marine Service LLC, initiated the original legal action to close down Meagher’s mini-marina. During a hearing in June in Garrett County Circuit Court, Judge Jim Sherbin found that a previous zoning amendment that allowed 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.

Other agenda items for the meeting include a decision on an amendment to the Garrett County subdivision ordinance, a discussion on the recommended permit fee schedule, a board review of 2014 legislation and update on 2013-2014 winter operations.

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CUMBERLAND — Bills aimed to help school districts in areas with declining student populations, like Garrett County, are being considered by the General Assembly.

The importance of the bills is that they would automatically provide funding rather than forcing local representatives to fight for special appropriations every year, said Del. Wendell Beitzel. In the past few years, districts with declining populations have been hit hard by the state’s school funding formula, contributing to school closures in Garrett County.

Beitzel has introduced House Bill 814 and Sen. George Edwards has introduced companion Senate Bill 534. A bill to help with the issue was requested by members of the Allegany and Garrett County boards of education at a December meeting with legislators before the General Assembly session began.

“The bill would not help Allegany County at this point, but would help Kent County, among others,” Beitzel said, assessing the statewide nature of the proposed legislation. Garrett County has lost about 18.5 percent of its budget in the last four years due in part to a loss of student enrollment, officials said.

For the last five years Garrett County will have the largest decrease in student enrollment, in terms of a percentage loss, across the state, Larry McKenzie, director of finance for the Garrett school system, said recently. Since 2009, the Garrett board has lost $4.5 million and is anticipating losing $1.5 million this year.

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OAKLAND — Garrett County Sheriff Rob Corley has announced that Deputy First Class Jamie Friend has been named as his 2013 Deputy of the Year.

Each year, the Elks Lodge hosts a celebration to recognize various community members, students, law enforcement and fire and emergency medical service professionals who exceed their daily duties.

Corley selected Friend, a seven-year veteran of the department, as his honoree representative to the Elks Lodge based on Friend’s outstanding work ethic and commitment to public safety.

The sheriff also announced the promotion of various deputies, in-cluding Capt. Chris Helbig (patrol); Lt. Daniel Duggan (judicial); Lt. Clark Warnick (school resource); Sgt. Aaron Wilson (patrol); Sgt. Erik Geroski (patrol); Cpl. Dave McLaughlin (judicial); and Cpl. Dave Teet (investigations).

Also during 2013, numerous deputies were awarded by the Maryland Highway Safety Office for their outstanding work in traffic enforcement. Deputies First Class Colt Ruby and Adam Rounds were awarded the Smooth Operator Award in October for their dedication to traffic enforcement.

Friend and Deputies First Class Curtis O’Neal and Brad Palmer were awarded the DUI Enforcement Award in October for their efforts in drunken driving arrests.

Friend was also awarded the Purple Star and Medal of Valor from the National Sheriff’s Association. Rounds and Deputy First Class Nat Bittinger were also recognized by the NSA, each with a Medal of Valor award. All three deputies were recognized by the NSA for their bravery after Friend was stabbed during an incident at a local housing complex in November. Rounds and Bittinger were on the scene and assisted with the call.

Corley also said that Bittinger and Deputies Dustin Lewis and  Bryan Ridder graduated from the police academy in July. Lewis previously was a dispatcher at the Garrett County 911 center and Ridder and Bittinger were correctional officers in the Garrett County Detention Center prior to be-coming deputies.

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OAKLAND — Senate Bill 2 that deals with setback requirements for wind turbines in Garrett County recently passed the Senate and has been sent to the House of Delegates for consideration, according to Sen. George Edwards.

A provision of the bill dealing with an adjoining property owner’s consent to a variance for a wind turbine setback requirement was deemed unconstitutional by Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler last year. The bill has since been amended, removing the provision, according to Edwards.

The word “neighboring” was added to the definition of setback distance, Edwards said. That portion now reads a setback distance means the distance measured from the base of the tower of a wind turbine in an industrial wind energy conversion system to any neighboring residential or school building in all directions.

The bill provides for a minimum setback for a wind turbine of “no less than two and a half times the structure height” in the county. The wind turbine setback requirement doesn’t apply to wind systems that have submitted a specified interconnection application to regional electricity grid operator PJM before March 1, 2013.

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OAKLAND — Garrett County’s recycling rate for 2012 was 46.83 percent, the county Department of Solid Waste & Recycling announ-ced. Its source reduction rate was 47.83 percent.

Source reduction, also known as waste prevention or pollution prevention, is the elimination of waste before it is created, according to the Maryland Department of the Environment. It involves the design, manufacture, purchase or use of materials and products to reduce the amount or toxicity of what is thrown away.

The 1988 Maryland Recycling Act authorized the MDE to reduce the disposal of solid waste through management, education and regulation. Each of Maryland’s jurisdictions reports the amount and types of materials recycled annually. Populations of less than 150,000 are required to recycle 20 percent of their waste.

The county requests that each business report its recycling efforts within the county and outside of the county and state. The 2013 recycling report forms are available at http://www.garrettcounty.org/solid-waste-recycling/ garrett-county-recycling-program/2012-recycling-report. Some recycling forms will be mailed or emailed; businesses can expect to see these by early February. Completed recycling forms are due March 21 and may be emailed, faxed, scanned, mailed or hand-delivered.

Recycled materials may include grass clippings, leaves, brush, carpet or cloth remnants, catalogs, pallets, sawdust, oil filters, mixed paper and toner cartridges, aluminum cans, No. 1 and 2 plastic bottles, newspapers, cardboard, magazines, office paper, glass bottles and jars, electronics and mixed metal.

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OAKLAND — The Garrett County Board of Education is looking for new members to join the Advocacy Committee, which will include high and middle school students.

“What I would like to do is find out the interest for those people who were originally appointed to the advisories, those who would like to stay on to do some planning on behalf of the school system,” said Superintendent Janet Wilson.

Those wishing to be on the committee will be required to fill out a new application because the scope of the group has changed since the board halted a plan to close three elementary  schools. The board was required to keep the schools open as one of the conditions of the county commissioners’ decision to give the board $2.2 million.

The Advocacy Committee has to have “a manageable number of members” with one from each school, according to Wilson. Board members will also be present at the Advocacy Committee meetings.

Paul Swanson of Facility Engineering Associates, who is the author of the facilities study, and Mike Gehr, of Bushey Feight Morin Architects Inc., met with the Advocacy Committee on Monday and answered 162 questions, about 90 of which pertained to the facilities study, according to William Swift, director of maintenance and operations with Garrett County Public Schools.

Board member Rodney Reckart discussed the renovation of Southern Middle School and said funding for it “has been nightmare” and that the state won’t pay for 20 percent of the construction costs. Reckart asked Gehr if it would be more cost effective to raze part of the building. Gehr said taking off square footage may not be in the best interest and indicated there were other options to explore.

In July, the commissioners voted to defer the $582,400 renovation for one year.

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