Industrial Development

Havre de Grace administrators may look outside city borders to strengthen the community's industrial base and financial future.A three-member City Council committee is looking into annexing several properties totaling about 450 acres. Most of Havre de Grace's industrial land is fully developed, say committee members."There is no timetable," said Councilman Philip Angelini Jr., chairman of the annexation committee."We're saying let's look at five, 10, 20 years from now to see what we want to do."

It's a common refrain, and sometimes uttered for various reasons: We need to continue to control residential growth in Carroll County. My reason? New residences attract growing families - and growing families burden our school system. It is stated in the press, and even in the school system, that our school population is shrinking. That may be, countywide, but in my view the situation would have more gravity if I did not see portable classrooms still parked at most of the schools in the southern part of Carroll County.

TOWN Councilman Joe Jordan aptly sums up Manchester's dilemma about a proposed bypass for Route 30, which now runs through the community: "You want it, but you don't want it. If we had our way, we'd build stone walls and give each member of the town a key." The decidedly small town wants to remain so, with an old-time Main Street and a legally prescribed limit on population. The state bypass to divert the heavy north-south truck traffic from clogging Main Street is needed. One way to get state approval for the costly project may be to rezone town land along the bypass route for industrial development.

Mortgage lenders aren't the only ones showing more interest in your credit score these days - the health industry is creating its own score to judge your ability to pay. The new medFICO score, being designed with the help of credit industry giant Fair Isaac Corp., could make its debut as early as this summer in some hospitals. Healthcare Analytics, a Waltham, Mass., health technology firm, is developing the score. It is backed by funding from Fair Isaac, of Minneapolis; Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp.

Some Jessup residents don't like the vision of increasing residential and commercial or industrial development in their area outlined in the county's proposed General Development Plan.They say they like the community's rural feel, which is hard enough to maintain sandwiched between Interstate 95 and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and surrounded by prisons.More residential and industrial development would change Jessup's character and worsen traffic congestion on two-lane Route 175, according to Alvera Miller, who has lived in Jessup since 1949.

The County Commissioners last week reaffirmed their authority to float industrial development bonds in times of acute unemployment.Toput the county in line with state law and to make sure industrial development money is available during unemployment, the commissioners acted to authorize "the issuance of bonds and such other activities asmay be required in furtherance of these purposes.""This is a formality to give us this option if we need the money for economic development," said Commissioner Julia W. Gouge.

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Municipal bond issuers announced yesterday the early redemption of eight issues totaling more than $59.25 million.1! The issues being called are: * Alaska State Housing Finance Corp., Series 1988 F-taxable secured bonds maturing Jan. 15, 2003. $10.895 million called at par on Jan. 15, 1993.* California Statewide Communities Development Authority, Series 1989 (Sunclipse, Inc.), industrial development revenue bonds maturing Sept. 1, 2004. $4 million called at par on Oct. 26, 1989.

Arthur Peck, a retired Westminster veterinarian, has been elected chairman of the county Industrial Development Authority IDA).A five-year member of the authority, Dr. Peck will replace Russell Sellman, who resigned last month."

IS CARROLL COUNTY finally getting serious about industrial development?Over the years, industrial-zoned land has been used for commercial purposes. Some has even been squandered on residential subdivisions. Industrial property that might have been attractive to companies was not developed with essential infrastructure of roads, water and sewer.The result has been a weakened tax and employment base for the county and its municipalities, a lower economic use of prime land specifically designated for industrial development.

Carroll County has hired a real estate consultant to study the industrial potential of 526 acres in Finksburg, land that is among 1,000 acres officials hope to rezone for industrial use.The county Industrial Development Authority, an arm of the Economic Development Commission, has paid $20,000 to Lipman, Frizzell and Mitchell of Towson for a feasibility study of the Bethel Road site. The study is due Aug. 1.The consultants will include cost estimates for bringing public water and sewer to the Bethel Road site and a traffic study detailing possible improvements to nearby Route 140.The Finksburg Planning Area Council, a newly formed community activist group, has opposed development that would add to the existing heavy traffic on Route 140."

A self-described impulsive "house-a-holic," who before yesterday had never seen the inside of Baltimore's landmark Sherwood Mansion, bought it on a $2.52 million whim at auction. The purchase apparently set a Baltimore sales record, and successfully punctuates the end of a long, sluggish ride on the market for one of the city's most celebrated homes. "I went there, I liked it, I bought it. I'm very impulsive," said winning bidder Leroy M. Merritt, a Baltimore native and industrial developer.

The Carroll County commissioners will allow interim private water and sewer systems to be installed at an industrial development near Union Bridge, but only if the owner seeks annexation of the property into the town. "We are granting permission, contingent on application for annexation," Commissioner Dean L. Minnich said yesterday. "The owner also must agree to hook into the town systems when those become available." Those contingencies could prove too costly for David and Sam Lease, who are trying to sell 10 acres of their 90-acre farm to Hahn Transportation Inc. In addition to town property taxes, annexation could require the Leases to pay about $1 million to run public water and sewer lines to the property.

The state has approved $4 million for the redevelopment of the Warfield Complex, a 100-acre campus in Sykesville where the town plans to create a business and academic center. The money is in addition to $1 million Carroll County allocated to the project this year and $3.1 million the State Highway Administration will spend to build an intersection at the Route 32 entrance to the property. Sykesville plans a $20 million renovation of a dozen former state hospital buildings clustered on the property along Route 32. The $5 million will pay for the complete renovation of a 12,000-square-foot building, which would serve as a model for the complex.

Maple branches rustle against lank telephone wires. Squat lilac bushes sweep wide as open arms. When the air stills, crickets provide a country summer soundtrack. Ah, East Baltimore. "Country in the city" is how the Orangeville neighborhood association president puts it, right before she requests that no article be written about her community of 16 years. "We like it quiet here," explains Cindy Gray, standing in the doorway of her robin's egg blue 1920 farmhouse. A van's screeching tires interrupt her. A woman's voice drones on a parking lot loudspeaker and the clamor of a passing train momentarily drowns out neighborly conversation.

The Warfield Complex in Sykesville, a proposed business campus that could bring 1,000 jobs to Carroll County, is slated for $700,000 in county money to help jump-start the project. The money brings to $1 million the county's contribution to the town's plan to convert the dozen century-old former state hospital buildings into a business and academic center. It also is expected to spur a multimillion-dollar state contribution, said Steven Powell, the Carroll commissioners' chief of staff.

Eight hotels proposed for Baltimore in the past three years would add 25 percent more rooms to a city focused on luring more visitors, but despite enthusiastic announcements by developers at some of downtown's most prominent locations - and even some public subsidies - none has broken ground. Blame the economy. Blame the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the nation's government and financial centers. Blame lenders who believe Baltimore cannot handle more hotel rooms, developers have said for months.

A meeting that began with more than 300 angry and confused residents from the Finksburg area ended with the formation of a citizens group that intends to keep a close watch on potential industrial and commercial development along the Route 140 corridor.After a sometimes heated question-and-answer session among residents and county officials, 61 people signed up to participate in a community action group to monitor development issues in the Finksburg area."The people of Finksburg expressed how they felt and that they care for the area and want to make sure nothing is done that will ruin the quality of life here," said Laura O'Callaghan, who with her husband, David, organized last week's meeting at the Westminster Senior Center.

CARROLL COUNTY is crying for industry, particularly to balance the surge of residential growth in the south, while industrial land owners scramble to convert their properties to commercial or residential use because of a soft market.So when a Baltimore County company announces that it wants to move near Sykesville with 30 employees, buy a 13-acre industrial site and building from the Laborers union, asks for no government incentives or zoning variances and even proposes annexation by the town to pay municipal taxes, what is the reaction?

Common zoning wisdom is that industrial land is worth a lot more than residential, but a company with 11 industrial acres at Howard County's far eastern edge is asking for the right to build homes on the land instead. Blue Run I Enterprises LLC's property, on the south side of Hanover Road just outside Elkridge, is zoned for heavy manufacturing. An attorney for the company - saying the hilly topography and a pipeline easement would sharply reduce the amount of possible industrial development - wants the county to rezone the tract to permit townhouses.