In Carroll County, where farming has been a way of life for almost 200 years, big change is in the air. And that?s good news, both to the county?s farming community and to local officials who are concerned about the area?s job situation.
In the next several years, more jobs may be focused on how to make crops stronger and farms more efficient through biotechnology, automation and computerization, as Carroll seeks to seize a share of the high-tech industrial revolution that?s blossoming elsewhere in the Baltimore-Washington area.
Officials are hoping a pair of high-tech business parks will add more high-skilled jobs to the county?s agricultural economy and help local employment keep pace with a growing commuter population.
According to a 2002 survey conducted by The Jacob France Institute, more than 60 percent of Carroll County residents commute outside the county to work. That percentage is not unusual for a suburban region, said Denise Beaver, deputy director of the county?s Department of Economic Development, but it could dip if Carroll attracts more high-tech jobs.
New space for industrial development should combine with the county?s ready work force and relatively low rents to attract new business, Beaver said.
“We?re going after the high-level, high-skilled, high-paying kinds of jobs,” she said.
NEW SPACES, NEW FACES
Two developments ? one near Sykesville, the other in Westminster ? are slated to bring more than 1,000 new white-collar jobs to the county, Beaver said.
Just outside Sykesville at the county?s southern end, 96 acres and 14 historic buildings make up the Warfield Corporate Complex, a potential business boon 10 years in the making, Beaver said.
Formerly part of the Springfield Hospital Center sold off as surplus by the state, the complex is now being leased and renovated to suit new clients with plans for new buildings.
The site already has attracted the corporate headquarters for Nexion Health Inc., which runs dozens of nursing homes in Texas, Louisiana and Colorado, she said. The $1.2 million conversion of the historic buildings into modern office space likely will be completed by this summer.
Near the Carroll County Regional Airport, another 63 acres will house the Westminster Technology Park, including a new manufacturingfacility for nearby defense contractor General Dynamics Robotics Systems. The other lots in the park remain mostly empty but are ready for building permits once tenants are found, said Clayton Black, chief of the Bureau of Development Review.
General Dynamics, which already employs 300 people at offices around the airport?s industrial corridor, has announced that its new 150,000-square-foot Production and Operations Center will create 135 jobs over four years.
The facility will concentrate research and manufacturing facilities at a single site, including assembly operations for a system that handles ammunition in the U.S. Army?s Stryker Mobile Gun System.
HIGH-TECH TENANTS
Based on recommendations from the Carroll Technology Council, the county has been courting companies in several industries. The council believes the area should focus on high-tech manufacturing, defense and aerospace, research and development, and information technology.
One area in which Carroll could excel is “informatics,” the industry of organizing, storing and sharing information, Beaver said. Many of the state?s existing research facilities ? including military bases and universities in Baltimore and Washington ? depend on the informatics industry, she said.
“Being as close as we are to various military bases, informatics is a huge thing right now,” said Lynn Karr, director of the council.
The county has focused on courting businesses in the manufacturing and informatics fields, Karr said, hoping to make Carroll into a major incubator for those kinds of startups.
Lawrence Twele, the county?s director of economic development, went to Chicago recently with members of the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore seeking bioscience firms that might be interested in moving to the county.
While other counties are better suited to medical and defense biotech research, Karr said, agricultural research might provide a window for Carroll to expand into other biotech niches.
Carroll?s large agricultural base would provide a “good fit” for the biotechnology industry, Beaver said, since large, advanced farming operations are often at the forefront of implementing advances in husbandry and genetics.
BUILDING THE NETWORKS
However, the county has struggled to keep its infrastructure on par with its industry. Existing roads, sewers and water supplies are often insufficient for large-scale industrial manufacturing and distribution, Twele said.
Carroll is already struggling to maintain adequate facilities to support its residential development, said County Commissioner Dean Minnich.
Most of the population development is occurring within and around the towns but can still strain services and clog roads, said Clayton Black, chief of the Bureau of Development Review.
Though existing facilities may not support huge operations, the county can focus on attracting numerous small, high-tech companies or divisions of larger corporations, Beaver said.
Another challenge is providing the support specific to high-tech industry. Carroll is lagging in the availability of high-speed Internet access, Karr said. The Technology Council is pushing for Verizon ? or even its Internet service rival Comcast ? to expand services in the county, especially along the Route 97 corridor, she said.
“We need to have a tech-ready, high-speed telecommunications network. We?re trying to get Verizon to step up,” she said.
The county is updating its master plan for development ? now branded as the “Pathways Plan” ? which will eventually identify the main areas suited for industrial growth, rezone them to permit greater industrial development, then focus infrastructure improvements there, Twele said.
