GC Commissioners Propose Adding Ridgeline Protection To Comp Plan
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Dec. 30, 2010
The new Board of Garrett County Commissioners is proposing that language to protect mountain ridgelines from development be included in the county’s recently revised Comprehensive Plan.
“I’d like to refer this matter back to the Planning Commission so they can have a public hearing on including language that was previously omitted from the Comprehensive Plan,” said commission chair Gregan Crawford during the board’s public meeting last Tuesday.
The 216-page Comprehensive Plan, which serves as a policy guide for future growth in the county, was adopted by the previous board in October 2008.
In order to be consistent with that updated plan, the county’s three principal land development ordinances – the Deep Creek Watershed Zoning, GC Subdivision, and GC Sensitive Areas – were revised earlier this year.
Updating the plan and ordinances was a four-year-long process by the Planning Commission and other county officials. Numerous hearings and meetings were held in which the public gave suggestions on various issues, including ridgeline protection.
Director John Nelson, GC Department of Planning and Land Development, said the commission’s initial Comprehensive Plan draft included language about protecting ridges from wind turbines and other tall structures. He presented the commissioners with copies of that proposed language.
“The idea was that there would be sighting requirements for development in the Sensitive Areas Ordinance – so there would be certain height limitations from the very pentacle of the ridge – preferably, that the wind turbines would be situated down slope from the very crest of the ridge, and that there’d be a maximum height from that crest at the ridge as well,” Nelson said.
Those concepts, however, were removed before the plan’s final adoption, he noted.
“I think omission of this language runs contrary to the Heritage Plan and to the Comprehensive Plan,” Crawford told Nelson.
Ask Outdoors Girl - Deer Hunting
Gene Boyd is 73 and lived in the Baltimore area from 1956 to 2004. A deer hunter who called Garrett County his favorite spot, Boyd asks: Years ago, white-tailed deer season for firearms started on the Friday after Thanksgiving. It was changed to Saturday, the story goes, because wives complained that their husbands were going hunting rather than spending the holiday at home. Can you tell me when this change took place?
Outdoors Girl searched the Sun archives and asked veteran hunters if they could recall a Friday opening day, to no avail. She asked Bob Beyer, the institutional memory of DNR’s Wildlife and Heritage Program, who said the agency has no record of it ever starting on a Friday. Can anybody out there with a better memory than Beyer and me solve this mystery?
If you have an outdoors question in search of an answer, send it to candy.thomson@baltsun.com
Farewell, 2010 - The Republican Newspaper
When the “sun sets” on the year 2010, some New Year’s Eve revelers will bid a fond farewell to a year filled with accomplishments and joy – the birth of a child, a healthy recovery, a financial boon. Others will pray quietly, hoping the new year will bring comfort and relief from the heartbreaking losses they endured in 2010. The Republican staff wishes all our readers a safe, prosperous, and healthy new year. Those who plan to venture out on New Year’s Eve are reminded not to drink and drive, and to be cautious of other drivers. Photo by John McEwen.
Top 10 stories of 2010 - PittsburghLive.com
By Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Saturday, January 1, 2011
February snowstorm: What began with a mad rush for milk, bread and other essentials ended with stranded motorists, abandoned cars and thousands of homes and businesses without power when a storm dumped more than 2 feet of snow on the region Feb. 5 and 6
Wet snow and falling tree limbs cut electricity — and with it, heat, and in some cases, water — to about 188,000 homes. Gov. Ed Rendell and local officials declared states of emergencies. Authorities urged people not to drive but invited anyone without heat to huddle in “warming centers” inside churches, government buildings and senior citizen centers.
Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl was snowed in with family and friends in the Laurel Mountains, celebrating his 30th birthday. He tried to return to Pittsburgh, “but it just isn’t safe out there,” he said. Outraged residents criticized city officials for failing to clear many streets.
Snowfall totaled 21.1 inches at the National Weather Service in Moon. The amount varied across the region: 17 inches measured in Greensburg, 15.5 inches in Kittanning, 19 inches in Monessen, 22 inches in Mars and 11 inches in Punxsutawney,
the weather service said. Friendsville in Garrett County, Md., reported 35.5 inches.
A journey across the state - Outdoors Girl
By Candus Thomson, The Baltimore Sun
January 1, 2011
You made me cry.
Of course I made myself cry, too.
Knife wounds, insect attacks and tandoori-hot temperatures aside, my favorite story involved me and you and the outdoors. In July, during one of the hottest stretches in a summer of hot stretches, I compressed a season’s worth of state park visits into one week. Twenty four parks, seven days, from Deep Creek Lake to the Atlantic Ocean.
The stunt was to promote the Maryland Park Service’s “Park Quest” family challenge, the best idea to come out of Annapolis since the coining of the state motto: “Manly deeds, womanly words.”
Garrett Co. Man Lobbying For Maryland TV Viewing Capability
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Dec. 30, 2010
A Deep Creek Lake resident has a seemingly simple aspiration – to watch a television station that offers Maryland sports, Maryland news, Maryland weather, and even Maryland campaign commercials. But complicated Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules are impeding Chuck Hoffeditz’s wish.
“People in Maryland, especially Garrett County, want to watch Maryland television,” he told the county commissioners last week during a meeting with state Sen. George Edwards and Del. Wendell Beitzel.
To illustrate his point, Hoffeditz showed the officials a petition containing the signatures of more than 500 people who, indeed, would like to watch Maryland TV. Several of those petition signers attended the meeting and voiced their concerns to the local officials.
Because FCC regulations about only allowing one Designated Market Area (DMA), most local residents can only receive Pittsburgh, Pa., channels through their cable and satellite companies. Even Maryland Public Television is not available to many Garrett Countians, despite the fact that a MPT tower is located on Eagle Rock.
A few Comcast customers in the Finzel/Frostburg area, however, are more fortunate. Their DMA is larger, so they are able to view Pittsburgh, Johnstown (Pa.), Washington, D.C., and Baltimore stations. Hoffeditz would like to have that option, too.
Jay’s note: I remember the days where you could get both Pittsburgh & Washington/Baltimore TV stations – that’s how I cam to love the Steelers & the Redskins. I agree with Chuck, give us the choice!
Backyard Astronomers Discover Black Holes and Other Wonders
Photo: VOA
Backyard astronomer Gus Johnson
Laurel Bowman | Swanton, Maryland
Amateur astronomer Gus Johnson didn’t set out to witness what scientists say is the first ever observed birth of a black hole. But that’s just what he did in 1979. His discovery of Supernova 1979c was only the third supernova in another galaxy ever detected by an amateur. But it has become one of the most important and studied since. Amateur astronomers have been making discoveries for at least 400 years, dating to Galileo’s spotting of Jupiter’s moons. The hobby helps professional scientists every day.
Johnson likes the quiet and he likes the dark. But clouds and sub-zero temperatures are working against him as he stargazes near his home in Western Maryland.
“Well, Jupiter went behind a cloud so we have the moon,” said Johnson.
Johnson has been stargazing for 50 years, and tonight he’s invited some kids to join him. He has a near photographic memory of hundreds of star positions and he loves to share what he knows.
Merry CHRISTmas!!
Merry Christmas!!
McClive's Painting Makes National Show
“Brown Pelican” by Rebecca McClive was recently accepted into the National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society’s “Best of America 2010” Show. With this acceptance, McClive also gained membership into the NOAPS Signature Artist Guild. “I am pleased to be one of the 111 members who has achieved the prestigious honor,” she said. The former Garrett County resident now resides in Fort Collins, Colo. The show traveled to several different galleries in the state of Missouri, and the painting was sold to the vice president of the NOAPS organization for $2,450. Prints are available through at rebeccamcclive.com. McClive will participate in the Southeastern Wildlife Expo in Charleston, S.C., Feb. 16–20, 2011, and the Western Masters Art Show and Sale in Great Falls, Mont., March 16–20. Interested persons are invited to visit McClive’s web site to see more of her paintings and to sign up for her newsletter to see new works.
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Residential property values drop 22 percent in Maryland
— ANNAPOLIS (AP) — The Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation says real estate values on residential properties have dropped by 22 percent in the past three years, the largest decline in the history of the department.
The department mailed notices on Tuesday to about 739,765 property owners that reflected the drop.
Maryland reassesses properties every three years. The new assessments are based on the sales of about 50,650 properties over that time.
While the assessments play a role in determining local property taxes, next July’s tax bills will be calculated with tax rates set by local governments.
