Housing, business boom in county

Just four years ago, economic planners in Baltimore County had to entice developers to build on a piece of prime waterfront property in Essex.

But the community that once was the poster child for the county?s neglected Beltway communities ? where suffering businesses like Ames and Valu Food left storefronts to rot ? now boasts more than 5,000 new homes, some of which have doubled in sale price over the past three years.