The Examiner sat down with Robert Leib, Anne Arundel County?s coordinator for the Base Realignment and Closure program, and questioned him on federal program?s impact and the county?s preparations for the influx.
Q How many jobs will Anne Arundel see and what types of jobs will they be?
A Fort Meade alone will see 22,000 jobs. Add to that another 32,000 jobs in planned growth and you?ll see the county will become a hotbed of activity.
Most of the jobs will be white-collar, somewhat high-tech jobs.
Q With that many jobs coming in, can the current road network handle the influx of people BRAC is expecting to bring in?
A No, and that?s the biggest challenge facing the county.
The state has put roads in the Fort Meade area [primarily Routes 175, 198 and 32] on its priority list, but funding and environmental issues are pushing these projects back.
The improvements that are needed for Route 3 in Gambrills have been on the books for 20 years.
I think efforts to double MARC rail service and County Executive John Leopold?s initiative to contract buses will help alleviate the traffic problem we?re likely going to see.
Q What about schools ? will they be able to handled the expected incoming 4,700 families?
A We believe it will be adequate.
We have new facilities, such as Seven Oaks Elementary School, online, and others in the Fort Meade area planned for improvement.
Schools are important, however, in determining where these people will move.
They will likely live in jurisdictions with good school systems, so we have to excel there if we want to draw in residents.
But there is no way the county can handle it all, that is why we must work with other jurisdictions on transportation, economic and development issues, so as a region, we can better handle BRAC.
Q How attractive is Anne Arundel compared to say, Howard County or Baltimore City ? areas with top performing schools and affordable housing?
A We have a very low unemployment rate, we have a lot of office space coming in as well as dozen hotels.
We also have one of the lowest [property tax] rates around.
I think we will fare well.
Q What aspect of the BRAC preparedness is getting the least amount of attention?
A Where small businesses fit into BRAC, which could be huge for their development.
The problem lies in trying to get small business interests into the federal procurement process or through subcontractors.
There is also the issue of security clearance forthose small businesses at Fort Meade.
There have been conferences hosted by Rep. Albert Wynn discussing opportunities for small businesses, and I believe that will not be the last.
