In fact, the site for the proposed boot camp is situated prominently in the Odenton Town Center Growth Management Area. A prison boot camp there would present a strong disincentive to development along Md. 175, in Odenton and in the planned community of Seven Oaks, which is across the street. (The Sun incorrectly characterized Seven Oaks as a "huge community of expensive homes." It may be large, but over 90 percent of its planned 4,700 units is scheduled as townhouses, condominiums and apartments.)
Furthermore, we maintain that with a boot camp in the middle of the so-called federal facilities business park, other federal agencies will not beat down the door to pick Fort Meade as a site. . . . In our experience, federal agencies provide good jobs and important spin-off commercial growth in a community. We have always felt that Fort Meade's Vision 2000 provides a campus setting of federal land for federal agencies that we wouldn't otherwise be in a position to attract.
