The Garrett County commissioners held a public hearing Tuesday afternoon to consider a petition by DC Development LLC to convey Wisp Mountain Road into the county’s public road system. Company partner/former Wisp Resort owner Karen Myers reviewed the proposal for the commissioners and public.
She said the 1.4 mile private road was constructed to county specifications in 1999 and serves a development of about 350 residences. Myers provided the commissioners with a metes-and-bounds description.
“It has been maintained by the Wisp Resort Master Association for a number of years,” Myers said about the road.
The association comprises home owners in the Deep Creek Highland, Kendall Camp, Lodestone, Marsh Hill Road, North Camp, and Sandy Shores developments. In January 2012, the association requested financial help from the county in maintaining Wisp Mountain Road. The commissioners rejected the proposal because it is privately owned.
If accepted into the public system, Wisp Mountain would be a connector road from Shingle Camp Road to Wisp Adventure Road and the Adventure Sports Center International (ASCI), which is located atop Marsh Mountain.
“Do you just want to alleviate yourself of the maintenance of it?” Commissioner Gregan Crawford asked Myers about the road.
She explained that DC Development is currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
“We’re in the process of liquidating all of the assets, and that road, we think, is a viable connector and it makes sense for it to be an official public road,” Myers said.
She added that most people traveling Wisp Mountain think that it is a public road.
Oakland area resident Eric Robison noted that giving the road to the county would alleviate ASCI’s “land-lock” problem. Currently, the county only has a deeded right of way to the county-owned center.
Robison indicated the only problem he sees with the proposed conveyance is that significant modifications will have to be made to the road in order for it to meet new county stormwater specifications.
“Other than that, it looks like a really good deal, and we should thank Karen for the effort,” he said.
Swanton area resident Dick Bolt, however, wondered what it would cost the county to take over the road.
“I would think the county would be interested in that as well,” he said.
Myers indicated she did not have specific information about Wisp Mountain, as the Wisp Resort Master Association maintains and plows several other roads in that area as well, including Overlook Pass.
“The bulk of the maintenance expense has been on that (Overlook Pass Road),” she said.
Commissioner Jim Raley indicated it was the county’s due diligence to get information about the cost of maintaining Wisp Mountain Road, not DC Development’s responsibility.
County attorney Mike Getty concurred. He noted that the public hearing concept regarding a conveyance is dictated by a state code.
“It simply says that anyone has the right to petition the county to take a road, but in doing so, has to give public notice of their intent to do that,” Getty said.
DC Development announced their intention in a public notice that was published in three issues of The Republican in May.
