County Seat

County Seat Stores Inc., a youth apparel chain based in New York, will relocate its national distribution center to Baltimore County, creating about 250 jobs, company officials said yesterday.The retailer has signed a 10-year lease with UPS Properties Co. for a 276,000-square-foot building at Marshfield Business Park, a speculative warehouse and distribution project in Rosedale."It was a combination of the right building being available at the right time," said Brett Forman, County Seat's executive vice president.

After last week's column decrying the definite lack of charm in downtown Towson and its hideous collection of dehumanizing architecture, I thought I might have to enter the federal witness protection program. I feared I'd be chased from my West Towson home by a torch-carrying mob of rustics similar to the one that pursued Frankenstein's monster or have my Baltimore County citizenship revoked by the county executive. No mob came, nor did an invitation to speak from the Towson Chamber of Commerce.

County Seat Stores Inc., which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, is expected to close its Rosedale distribution center next month and has begun laying off its 160 workers, according to a former consultant for the company.The New York-based youth apparel chain relocated its national distribution center to Baltimore County from Minnesota in June to be closer to most of its 400 stores -- including 25 in Maryland.But the retailer has been beset with "severe liquidity problems," according to Executive Vice President Brett Forman, that landed it in Chapter 11 in January, two years after emerging from bankruptcy protection while under other management.

Baltimore County has a plan for the heart of Towson, and it looks like Allegheny Avenue. In good weather Souris' Saloon can count on serving customers at tables under a black awning on the wide sidewalk where Allegheny meets the traffic circle at York Road. Down the block, Strapazza opens its sidewalk umbrellas for patrons. There's more seating out front at DiPasquale's and Ridgely & Ferrens, finer dining at Cafe Troia, a mix of small stores and the Penthouse high-rise condominium at the intersection of Washington Avenue.

PLANNERS know that stimulating residential development is a way to revitalize declining urban centers. Witness Baltimore's recent proposal to turn the fanciful Bromo-Seltzer Tower near Camden Yards into apartments. Indeed, at many locations, city developers are responding enthusiastically to the call for residential conversions.But officials haven't had much success coaxing a similar housing revival in Towson.Towson, a so-called "edge city" by virtue of its concentrated office space and major retail, is not in decline, but county officials have long-range concerns.

Aberdeen's favorite son received a hero's welcome last week -- in Bel Air. In the days leading up to Harford County's Cal Ripken Day festivities, questions arose about why the parade was held in Bel Air, the county seat, instead of Aberdeen, Ripken's hometown and the home of his minor league IronBirds. "Everyone has wondered why the event was not in Ripken's hometown," said County Councilman James V. McMahan Jr., a Republican from Bel Air who for 10 years served as curator of Aberdeen's Ripken Museum.

BEL AIR -- On an urban scale, Bel Air's population of about 10,400 might make it sound like a sleepy town, but don't be fooled. The county's shopping and government hub is surrounded by about 10 times as many people, many of whom moved here to enjoy the good schools and small-town feeling. People who live here say it's that charm and community pride that put Bel Air in the center of the county's hottest growth area. The profusion of people has brought with it traffic problems and school crowding, but in a town where police say the biggest crime problem is shoplifting, many residents seem willing to endure a few growing pains.

New, old candidates file for fall elections A bevy of new candidates - many unknown and some familiar - filed last week to run in the fall elections as tomorrow's deadline to file inched closer. Mark Fisher, an airplane engineer and farmer from Bel Air, joined the race for county executive Monday and said he will campaign as a "kinder, gentler" alternative to County Executive David R. Craig and Democratic candidate Ann C. Helton. "I'd like to try to take the politics out of the job and have the county government be a kinder, gentler government that works for the people," said Fisher.

A generation of lobbying is about to pay off as the new North Laurel Community Center is set to open June 3 on Whiskey Bottom Road. The celebration of this long-awaited resource, however, contrasts sharply with a chronic problem on that very same road. Whiskey Bottom Road has been the scene of many accidents, and last week county officials got an earful from residents pleading for measures aimed at slowing auto traffic and making the road safer for drivers and pedestrians. A county traffic engineer at the meeting told residents the county would prohibit trucks on the road, post an additional speed-limit sign, install reflectors in the median and conduct a traffic study at the entrance of the community center to determine whether a traffic light is warranted.

On May 28, 1879, the first Bel Air town ordinance related to utilities was enacted. Ordinance No. 10 prohibited the obstruction of sidewalks, streets, and gutters within the corporate limits by the placement of telephone poles and wires by an individual corporation or company. The need for such an ordinance reflected both the town's growth and technological change. The town was first laid out in 1780, and gained a courthouse -- and designation as the county seat -- two years later. The telephone was a relatively new device, having been invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876.

A generation of lobbying is about to pay off as the new North Laurel Community Center is set to open June 3 on Whiskey Bottom Road. The celebration of this long-awaited resource, however, contrasts sharply with a chronic problem on that very same road. Whiskey Bottom Road has been the scene of many accidents, and last week county officials got an earful from residents pleading for measures aimed at slowing auto traffic and making the road safer for drivers and pedestrians. A county traffic engineer at the meeting told residents the county would prohibit trucks on the road, post an additional speed-limit sign, install reflectors in the median and conduct a traffic study at the entrance of the community center to determine whether a traffic light is warranted.

Organizers of Harford County's annual Bike to Work Day called Friday morning's event a success, with more than 100 people participating in the rally and parade in Bel Air. The parade of bikers formed at the Harford County Government Administration Building and then proceeded through the county seat. The rally, hosted by the county government, is held each year to promote riding a bicycle as a fun, viable commuting option. This year's event skillfully beat the rain which fell off and on throughout the week, including Friday.

Residents of Baltimore's suburbs could see another year of reduced services, as counties continue to feel pressure on two key sources of revenue: state aid and property taxes. The fiscal strain could mean reduced library hours in Anne Arundel, more crowded classrooms in Baltimore County and economies like reusing old furniture in a new Carroll County school. County employees, meanwhile, are facing more pay freezes, furloughs and, for some, perhaps layoffs. "Fiscal year 2012 is the most serious and difficult challenge the county has faced during my tenure," said Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold, a Republican in office since December 2006.

Harford County residents will have a chance to raise questions Tuesday about a controversial bill that would allow the county to build a waste-to-energy incinerator near Cunion Field, an Edgewood park popular with local children and their families. The Harford County Council is to vote on the measure, Bill No. 09-36, at a public hearing at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The bill would allow the county to purchase Prologis Park, a 113-acre commercial lot in Edgewood, for $4.9 million. The intent of the acquisition, administrators say, is to allow the county to create a new access road to an existing waste-to-energy incinerator at Aberdeen Proving Ground, a facility that has turned Harford County solid waste into energy-producing steam since 1986.

The old houses on Washington Avenue have been knocked down, and the digging is about to begin for the 18-story Palisades apartment building. Already, condos are rising across from the mall, and more apartments are planned near the university. In Towson, a change is coming that rivals the makeover pulled off in Silver Spring. In all, an estimated 2,500 new residences will be built within the next few years - a key component in a billion-dollar development boom designed to transform the Baltimore County seat into a regional hub for entertainment, shopping, dining and night life.

The state fire marshal will not allow one more employee to move into the Harford County Administration Building. The sheriff maintains a major part of his operations four miles away from his headquarters in downtown Bel Air. The state's attorney's office is paying more than $600,000 in rent annually for five locations in the county seat, one of them called "the dungeon." Employees are spread throughout 24 locations in a crowded county seat, many of the buildings with costly leases. But the space crunch will not change in the near future.

The Carroll County commissioners signed a $1.25 million contract yesterday to purchase a New Windsor-area quarry that could yield about 300,000 gallons of water a day as a potential backup source for the water-depleted city of Westminster. It will be the first water source purchased for Westminster since the city signed a consent order with the Maryland Department of the Environment in April, ending a six-month building moratorium because of the water deficit. That agreement mentions the quarry as a potential emergency source during times of drought.