Felling Oak Hill

Yesterday's Sun had an interesting piece on the expansion of the Oak Hill Juvenile Detention Center in Laurel. The facility, nominally a branch of the Washington, DC public school system exists in a precarious position, both physically and philosophically.

Its history goes back to 1929, when the federal government granted the 888 acre tract, which is located between Fort Meade and the National Security Agency (NSA), to Washington, DC. The juvenile detention facility, which houses up to 188 incarcerated middle and high school youth, was built in 1967.

The current expansion flies in the face of Senator Cardin's persistent efforts to shut the facility down, and his arguments that the center should be moved back to the District because, the location is too remote and prevents close interaction between the youths and their families.

District officials have argued that because the center houses youth whose stay is often months at a time, the rural facility gives them the opportunity to spend time outdoors. The City's other juvenile detention center, in northeast DC, has no outdoor recreation space. In the past, the City has also expressed that it would be willing to part with much of the land beyond what is immediately being used, about 40-60 acres.

With BRAC and large-scale development planned for the area, expect this issue to heat up even more over the coming years.

Odenton Developers Decide to Play Hard Ball

Jay Baldwin, president of Reliable Contracting, and John Stamato, of Ribera Development are threatening to build 500,000 square feet of warehouse space on 50 acres in Odenton if they don't get the zoning on their property changed to changed to mixed use. The property is currently zoned for industrial use.

West County Federation Revives

Today's Sun reports that the West County Federation of Civic Associations has pulled itself out of its slumber, and not a moment too soon. The organization finally crumbled in 2002 because of infighting over whether or not to support the 1.3 million square foot Arundel Mills Mall, but it had been weakened in prior years by the exodus of Crofton-area groups to the Greater Crofton Council. The planned range for the newly constituted Federation is east to west from Fort Meade to Laurel and north to south from the Jessup area to the Patuxent River.

With BRAC coming to west county over the course of next decade, there are going to be extremely intense development pressures on the area, and citizens need to be poised, and prepared to make their positions known. Umbrella organizations like these can provide the solidarity required for the community to present a united front against well-funded and organized development interests. Some of the future issues facing west county include the possible addition of slots at the Laurel Park race tracks, the closure of the Oak Hill Youth Center (an 888-acre property near NSA), a proposed 1,600 home Ribera development, and the prospects for 78-acres of undeveloped land owned by the School Board.

Who Puts the "Boom" in Boomtown

A good piece in the Post about the coming explosion of growth and population in west county.

Anne Arundel on NPR

You think traffic and overdevelopment are a problem now? You haven't seen anything yet. Fort Meade is about to get 5,000+ more people, and the Queen of Sprawl can't get enough of it. Listen online at Morning Edition on the Web.

BONUS: 2,060 Age-restricted homes planned for Odenton.

A Tale of Three Cities?

In a curious coincidence, Friday's Capital reported the intentions of some in the Odenton area to seek incorporation for the burgeoning 'burb in west county. Apparently, the effort is being spearheaded by Dave Tibbetts, a member of the Greater Odenton Improvement Association, who sees incorporation as one way to reap the tax windfall of upcoming development in the area.

Mr. Tibbetts offered, "It takes us 30 years to get anything (from the county). We don't have enough clout with the political structure in general." Of course, it doesn't help that the area has been saddled with the largely inept Bill Burlison (D - Crofton) as its councilman for the last 7 years. One of the aspirants for Mr. Burlison's seat on the council, Jamie Benoit (D) said that "he's excited by the possibility .....but, the change is more likely in about eight to 10 years - "when Odenton is all grown up."

Certainly it's easy to understand why communities would seek greater autonomy, particularly when they feel as though they are being underserved, but there are other factors to consider as well: How will an additional layer of bureacracy either slow or speed local efforts? What sort of costs would the new local body cost just to sustain itself? Many communities in the county have special benefit tax districts, which take a portion of local property taxes for community purposes. This would seem to be an important intermediary step.