Maryland Association of Counties Conference Begins With a Focus on BRAC

By Andy Rosen

County officials from around the state began their summer conference Wednesday with a focus on preparation for the tens of thousands of jobs expected to move to Central Maryland as part of the U.S. military’s Base Realignment and Closure process.

State Planning Secretary Richard E. Hall, who spoke to a forum on BRAC preparation as Maryland Association of Counties members began to arrive, said the process of preparing the affected areas will be a challenge

BRAC is expected to draw 60,000 new jobs and 28,000 new households to already growing parts of Maryland, starting as early as 2009. Much of the growth will center around Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford and Baltimore counties and Fort Meade in Anne Arundel County.

“It’s adding growth pressures to areas that have had them for a long time,” said Hall.

The MACo conference started off on a somber note, as news spread that Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. was in the hospital after undergoing a triple bypass heart surgery early in the day. Smith is serving this year as MACo’s president, and was due to oversee the summer conference.

In a statement, Smith’s office said he was resting comfortably and was expected to make a full recovery.

Discussion over the supply of water in counties that are bracing for BRAC-related and other growth could become a theme of the conference.

At a panel discussion on water quality and supply, Jay G. Sakai, director of water management at the Maryland Department of the Environment, said counties should not count on their water supply being static. He said environmental changes such as pollution and climate change can affect the availability of water and the prospects for population growth in an area.

It will be important for local governments to work together in securing water supply, he said. Though supply negotiation can often be difficult, he said water issues will not be decided along political boundaries.

“It’s really a shared resource, so we think that regional solutions are going to be the solution to this problem,” Sakai said. “It’s easy to say, and hard to do … but there is no other way.”

One of the state’s major goals for BRAC development will be to concentrate growth around areas that have sufficient infrastructure to support it. Hall and David W Edgerley, secretary of business and economic development, touted a BRAC package passed this year by the General Assembly.

One new law will allow counties to create “BRAC Zones,” where the state will use tax incentives to encourage businesses to locate. It also allows businesses that develop on military bases and need new infrastructure to help pay for it and offset future taxes. Those zones can overlap multiple counties.

Originally published by Andy Rosen.

(c) 2008 The Daily Record (Baltimore). Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.