Adams County sells 60 Charnita properties

A sprawling resort community was once expected to surround Liberty Mountain, near Carroll Valley.

Cabins were supposed to be built on small land plots that would dot the mountainside. Retirees would flee to the area to enjoy various nearby recreation opportunities.

But it never quite happened as it was envisioned.

Charnita, as Liberty Mountain Resort was known in the 1960s, was named after its owners, Charles and Anita Rist, according to the Resort's website. The Rists started to build a rustic residential development, but they went bankrupt in the 1970s.

Snow Time Inc., owners of Ski Roundtop, bought Charnita. After that, properties that were once thought ripe for development were left vacant. With delinquent taxes piling up on them, county officials have begun selling them through the county's unsold property repository.

Commissioners approved final sale prices for 60 properties this week. School district and municipal officials have to offer their approval as well on the properties' final sale prices.

One property is priced at $15,000, three are listed around $1000. The rest range from $300 to $800.

Many of the properties have failed to pass percolation tests required to install septic systems, county officials said. That is partially why the planned development never fully materialized decades ago.

When the Charnita development was conceptualized in the 1960s, what is now Carroll Valley Borough did not have development guidelines like the ones in place today, said Jim Martin, Adams County commissioner. There was no thought of percolation, he said.

But buying adjacent tracts allows neighboring property owners to acquire bigger yards, driveways or possibly obtain a property that is fit for water and sewer hookups.

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Adams County sells 60 Charnita properties