Carroll County?s location is ideal for supporting new industry, county officials say. Director of Economic Development Lawrence Twele says he believes that as moreoffices and industrial centers are built along the corridors between Baltimore and Washington, Carroll seems next in line.
“The next natural path of growth is between Montgomery County and Baltimore County, and we?re right in the middle,” Twele said.
While the county lacks high-volume interstate highway corridors like Interstate 270 in Montgomery, I-70 runs near Carroll?s southern border between Baltimore and Frederick counties, potentially feeding into the Warfield complex, Twele said.
Proximity to Fort Detrick in Frederick makes the county ripe for providing technology support through the defense industry, said Tom Sadowski, executive vice president of the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore.
Federal plans for military base realignment and closure are expected to bring between 40,000 and 60,000 jobs to the state in the next few years, and Carroll could get a piece of that growth, Sadowski said.
With a Northrop Grumman Oceanic and Naval Systems facility in Sykesville and the expanding General Dynamics offices in Westminster, defense contractors have already established a foothold in Carroll.
HIGH-TECH COMPANIES BY NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES
Northrop Grumman, Sykesville: 425 (ninth-highest in county)
EVAPCO (equipment manufacturing), Westminster: 400 (11th-highest)
General Dynamics Robotics Systems, Westminster: 312 (13th-highest)
Flowserve Corporation, industrial pumping equipment: 206 (20th-highest)
CARROLL?S WORK FORCE PROFILE
» 52,269 total employees
» 44,176 privately employed: 22.5 percent in contract construction; 20.5 percent in trade, transportation and utilities; 17.5 percent in professional and business services
Source: Carroll County Department of Economic Development;Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development
