Megan Miller Cumberland Times-News
OAKLAND — The Garrett County Commission gave its unanimous approval Tuesday to the final drafts of three amended ordinances to guide county land development.
“We’re at the end of the road here, so this is good, so far as these ordinances are concerned,” John Nelson, director of planning and land development, told the commission.
The newly adopted versions will go into effect June 1. But the long process of updating the three planning and land development ordinances — a subdivision ordinance, sensitive areas ordinance and Deep Creek watershed zoning ordinance — began more than a year ago, in April 2009.
The first versions spurred some public uproar over a provision that would affect the development of rural resource and agricultural resource land. That provision would have required at least 66 percent of subdivision land parcels in those areas to be set aside as “resource parcels,” or open land.
That requirement was removed in a later draft, after landowners objected that it infringed on private property rights and could potentially drive down property values by restricting land use. Instead, the document includes clustering as an option, and contains incentives to attempt to encourage that type of development.
A provision in the first draft of the updated Deep Creek watershed zoning ordinance also caused a stir because it would have put strict requirements on development on crests and ridge lines visible from the surface or shoreline of the lake. The proposed changes also would have required trees to be planted between structures and the lake to screen them from view.
But the strict requirements didn’t sit well with people specifically interested in those properties for the development potential and unobstructed lake views. In a later draft, the provision was changed to require only that trees be planted around the sides and rear of new structures to help them blend into the surrounding vegetation. No trees are required for the front, or lake-facing side.
The ordinance update was undertaken because state law requires the ordinances to be adjusted to remain consistent with changes to the county comprehensive plan. The current version of the plan was adopted in 2008.
Updated versions of the ordinance drafts and maps are available on the county website at www.garrettcounty.org
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