Wisdom from The Action Wisdom In Action

courtesy Republican News


Aug. 28, 2008

The Garrett County commissioners and Planning Commission members held a public hearing last Thursday evening at Garrett College on the county's Comprehensive Plan draft. About 100 people attended the event, with 13 voicing their concerns about the document.
The county's current comprehensive plan is more than 10 years old. In June 2006, Planning Commission members, county staff, and a contracted consulting firm, ERM, started working on a new plan that would reflect new societal trends and government policies. Local residents and organizations have also provided input over the years.

"It's looking pretty good," Planning Commission chair Troy Ellington said Tuesday night about the latest draft. "Can it be improved? Yes, it can. But most of us are very happy with it, so far."

This text proposes goals, objectives, principles, and standards, and establishes county policy with respect to land use, transportation, community facilities, water resources, housing, mineral resources, sensitive areas, and economic development, and includes recommendations for implementing the plan.

Director John Nelson, Garrett County Department of Planning and Land Development, said state agencies reviewed the latest draft in April and returned their comments about it in June. Local residents and town officials in Garrett and other Maryland counties have also submitted opinions.

So far, ERM's Clive Graham has compiled 14 pages of comments about the proposed document.

"Most of the comments, I would say, were relatively minor," he said. "In many cases, the state agencies are asking for additional information, clarification, things like that."

Graham said "signifi-cant" comments, however, were made about some issues that will require more careful review by the commissioners and Planning Commission.

The Maryland Department of Planning recommended that the county lower its density requirement in rural areas to one unit per 20 acres.

"We were not surprised to see that comment," Graham said, adding that the department frequently makes that recommendation.

Numerous comments were also received about the water resources chapter, which is a new state requirement for comprehensive plans. Graham noted that Garrett County is the first to submit a water resources chapter, and, despite the many comments, the state is very pleased with that section of the plan.

Graham said several comments were also made about environmental issues, in particular the need for the county to include wetlands in its Sensitive Areas Ordinance, which was adopted in 1997. The edict does address steep slopes, stream buffers, rare and threatened species, and flood-prone areas, and development/permitting issues concerning those areas. Wetlands are not mentioned.

Most of the public comments at Thursday's hearing were about a proposed workforce housing project mentioned in Chapter 9 of the draft plan. It notes that "the White Face Farm property northeast of McHenry was acquired by the county and is intended as a joint economic development and housing site."

Although the housing component is in the very early planning stage, Community Action intends to construct several hundred homes for low- to middle-income workers on 50 acres of the White Face property near the Garrett County Airport. The housing development has been dubbed Lake Hill.

The proposed McHenry Business and Technology Park will also be built on the White Face land near the proposed community.

Del. Wendell Beitzel of Accident was one of six local residents who voiced their opposition to Lake Hill.

"I urge the Planning Commission and commissioners not to change the classification of all of the White Face Farm to permit high-density housing projects near the airport," Beitzel said.

The delegate noted that he and his 10 siblings grew up near the airport in the Bear Creek drainage basin, a rural community which consisted of 16 or 17 family farms at that time. Today, he said, there are still only about 50 or 60 homes in the entire basin.

Beitzel indicated that reclassifying that area to enable high-density housing to be constructed would change the character of the rural community, which is not the purpose of a comprehensive plan.

"What we're looking at is a change in this plan that would allow a project that is proposing to put in excess of 200 homes on the White Face Farm, which is county property, which is a buffer to the airport," Beitzel said. "And these 200 homes would be five times the number of families who live in that entire area, and if this doesn't change the character of a neighborhood, I don't know what does."

Chairperson Criss Kepple, Oakland, voiced the Garrett County Development Corporation's support for the reclassification. Her group is a nonprofit organization formed in the 1960s to further economic development.

One of the corporation's main goals is workforce housing and workforce development, Kepple noted.

"There is no question that in order to have a strong and viable workforce in the county, those folks have to have affordable places to live," she said.

Kepple said the proposed changes to the current comprehensive plan that expand the priority funding areas would allow the county to create affordable workforce housing for workforce ownership throughout the county, including Mc-Henry.

"With the costs of commuting and transportation, having affordable housing near where people actually work is going to be very important for the affordability of that workforce housing," Kepple said.

She added that the Lake Hill project is still in its infancy and details about it will emerge. Kepple also noted that there are misconceptions about the project and the type of housing that is planned.

"The goal of that project is to create housing that the workforce can, in fact, afford to own, not low-income housing," she said.

Some residents voiced their concerns about environmental issues in the comprehensive plan draft. Scott Johnson, Deep Creek Lake, said he hopes that Chapter 7: Sensitive Areas stays intact so that its integrity remains.

"It will take a lot of courage, but I hope that the commissioners will support that completely and not tear it apart," Johnson said.

The chapter discusses future growth/development and policies/actions for protecting sensitive areas, including establishing a "framework for regulatory control of ridgetop development through subdivision, sensitive area, and, possibly, zoning controls."

Long-time Deep Creek Lake property owner Barbara Beelar said she supported the proposed plan's section about the lake. But she said she was concerned about Section 12, "the action plan," in which the section about Deep Creek Lake disappears from the document.

"Given the role that the lake plays in Garrett County – economically, in recreation, tourism, environmental issues – I'm concerned that the "golden egg" is not well tended in this process," Beelar said.

She added that she understood that lack of attention, given the confusion as to who is responsible for the watershed. The Department of Natural Resources and state own the lake and buffer zones, but they do not own the watershed or own/control many of the streams that run into the lake, she said.

Beelar encouraged the Planning Commission to include these privately owned wetlands and other sensitive areas into the plan to help protect the lake from runoff and harmful excess plant growth.

She noted that she was in the process of forming a nonprofit protection group call the Friends of Deep Creek Lake and was developing a web site.

At the conclusion of the hearing, Nelson said the commissioners and Planning Commission would hold a work session on Wednesday, Sept. 10, at 1:30 p.m. at the courthouse. The officials will review the public's and state's comments and make a decision as to which of those suggestions will be included in the final draft plan.

"Our consultant will adjust the plan according to the outcome of that Sept. 10 meeting," Nelson said.

The Planning Commission will then "take action" on the final draft at its October meeting, he said.

The draft plan is available for review in the county's Planning and Land Development office at the courthouse and online at garrettcounty.org by clicking on "Comprehensive Plan" under "News." Copies are also at the Accident, Grantsville, and Oakland libraries.


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Affordable workforce housing for low and moderate income people may soon be available at a proposed development called Lake Hill. Spearheaded by the Garrett County Community Action Committee, the community will be located near the proposed McHenry Business and Technology Park and the airport.
Community Action president Duane Yoder recently reviewed the Lake Hill development for the Garrett County commissioners, who approved the transfer of about 50 acres of the White Face Farm property for the project.
This week, Yoder provided more details about the project for the media, along with two architectural renderings of the proposed community.
Yoder called the commissioners' support for Lake Hill "a great demonstration of how teamwork can be used to create affordable workforce housing in the McHenry area, close to where jobs are located."
The president also noted that despite unemployment dropping in the county, the cost of housing has made it very difficult for young working families and even middle income persons to acquire a home in a market where the median home sales exceed affordability ratios of median household incomes by 10, when generally accepted rates are between two and three.
Yoder also pointed to the fact that existing employers seeking to expand or recruit workers for new businesses are increasingly expressing concern over housing affordability.
"Housing is a critical economic development issue" stated Jim Hinebaugh, director of the Garrett County Department of Economic Development.
He also noted that because of the importance of housing to employers, the Garrett County Development Corporation and the Garrett County Chamber of Commerce have both made housing a priority.
Community Action's proposal will utilize 40-50 acres and yield over 200 homes, according to Yoder. Approximately 170 additional acres will be placed in a permanent development ban as either a conservancy or a buffer around the airport. Additionally, softball and soccer fields adjacent to the development will be improved, and trail and picnic sites will be preserved as "green spaces."
Yoder describes the appearance of the Lake Hill development as "an attractive and pleasing small town."
"The uniqueness of this initiative is that it builds an attractive, sustainable community in an area rich with amenities," Yoder said. "At the same time it builds a trust fund that will enable sustained work throughout the county."
He added that the commissioners' land transfer action was a state model for "Smart Growth."
The Lake Hill plan calls for a mix of house types and prices, with the primary market being persons earning less than 150 percent of the area's household median income, which is currently $60,000.
Only persons earning less than 150 percent of the median income will be eligible for reduced home prices. Higher income buyers will pay the full appraised market value, Yoder said.
The county's land transfer, as agreed upon by the commissioners, will be made into a nonprofit land trust that will hold title to the property and provide land lease agreements to buyers.
"The cost of the land is removed from the price of the house, making the home more affordable to buyers," Yoder said.
Additionally, development income will go to the land trust to rehabilitate or develop housing in other parts of the county.
The Lake Hill project grew out of local efforts to find solutions to the problem of affordable workforce housing. The Development Corporation and Community Action led a three-year effort through a task force of more than 30 people to devise such a plan, Yoder said.
According to Development Corporation chair Criss Kepple, the core of that plan describes strategies on how the community can work together to build and maintain housing that is affordable to people who work in the county and for young residents getting careers started in the community.
"The plan specifically recommends that the county look for ways it can provide land and infrastructure to achieve that goal," Kepple said. "I believe Lake Hill provides an almost perfect site for a workforce housing community and clearly is consistent with the plan recommendation."
She pointed out that the McHenry area is a major employment center, where workers living in the new housing development will not have to travel far to work.
"There is access to public utilities, and the area is designated as a growth zone," Kepple added. "It also provides our workers who help make Deep Creek Lake a very attractive place to also enjoy its amenities while saving on energy and transportation."
Yoder said he expects it will take several years to obtain the necessary funding and approvals for the Lake Hill project. He added that he anticipates a number of realtors and builders will participate in the build out and marketing of the development.
"The McHenry Business and Technology Park is expected to eventually attract businesses with higher wages," Yoder add. "The Lake Hill housing development will not only support the county's efforts to build the employment center by creating attractive housing for these future jobs, but will also create housing for those already working in McHenry and at Garrett College as well."