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Vision and Goals

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Excerpted from “Odenton Town Center Master Plan – December 2009
Updated to reflect current conditions pending 2015 Master Plan Revision

Vision

The Odenton Town Center will be a vital community where some live and work and others come for the shopping, entertainment, cultural enhancement and transportation access provided there. It will offer something for everyone and be a place that brings the diverse population of the Odenton area together as a community. The Odenton Town Center is at the heart of an area that has experienced tremendous residential and business growth in recent decades and is expected to experience even more growth in decades to come.

As a result of the Federal Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Initiative, a number of federal positions (relocated) to the Fort George G. Meade military base just west of the Odenton Town Center. (This) relocation (brought) both additional jobs and households to the County as well as to the region in general. (For more information on BRAC and growth at Fort Meade, visit our Fort Meade/BRAC page).

The Odenton Town Center is particularly well positioned to serve this new growth by offering new residential, office, and retail opportunities and thus providing a center of community activity to serve the growing population. The presence of a train station in the Odenton Town Center, the proximity of the Odenton Town Center to major highways and regional connector roads, active bus service to the Odenton Town Center, and the connection of the Odenton Town Center to area hiker/biker trials combine to make the Odenton Town Center accessible to all. The Odenton Town Center will be a retreat of green places, memorable spaces and pleasant connections. The preservation of places of historical significance, special beauty and environmental sensitivity together with the carefully planned development of the area, will make the Odenton Town Center a unique and special place and a source of pride and enjoyment for all who live, work and visit there.

Goals

The Goals for development of the Odenton Town Center are as follows:

Goal 1: Create a destination for shopping, employment, entertainment, education, and other public services that serves the Odenton area and West County.

Goal 2: Capitalize on access to regional public transit by creating development conditions that promote transit use by both residents commuting out of and workers commuting into Odenton.

Goal 3: Embrace the State’s Smart Growth principles and create a compact, mixed-use urban Core that is designed so that jobs, housing, and daily needs are within walking distance of each other.

Goal 4: Create a strong sense of place for the Town Center that draws upon and respects Odenton’s heritage and its historic resources.

Goal 5: Protect the natural resources of the Odenton Town Center and in particular the wooded upland wetlands in the northern portions of the Odenton Town Center.

Goal 6: Provide community spaces.

Goal 7: Ensure accessibility of the Town Center by those traveling on foot or by bike, car, bus or train.

Goal 8: Expedite quality land use through flexible and timely development approvals to support expanded growth associated with Fort George G. Meade.