Our Community

Growth and Development 

West Anne Arundel County is experiencing exponential growth as a result of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) relocations and other growth at Ft. George G. Meade and the National Security Agency (NSA), expected to bring approximately 22,000 employees to the area by the end of 2011. The recent announcement that the headquarters of the United States Cyber Command, to be headed by General Keith B. Alexander, will also be located at Ft. Meade, means thousands more jobs can be expected over the next several years.

But government jobs aren’t the only growth in western Anne Arundel County . Our position at the intersection of major highways, close to BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport , and proximity to Washington , D.C. led our area to be the growth corridor for the county well before BRAC additions were announced. Our highly skilled workforce and the presence of Ft. Meade and NSA have attracted many of the leading defense contractors, as well as established and emerging defense and intelligence companies working in informatics, communications, high-speed computing, aerospace, and instrumentation.  In fact, Anne Arundel Community College ’s Center for Workforce Solutions (www.aacc.edu/cws) offers a full complement of training solutions to give business and industry the competitive edge. CWS is one of the leading regional resources for customized training.

BRAC                                                                                                                                     The acronym BRAC is used locally to refer not only to the almost 5,700 jobs relocating to Ft. Meade as a result of the 2005 BRAC report, but also additional projected growth at Ft. Meade. Three main agencies will be relocating as a result of the 2005 BRAC decision:           

Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), http://www.disa.mil/ - DOD's, AT&T, Google, AOL, and ONSTAR                                                                                                              ; Defense Media Publications (DMA), http://www.dma.mil/ - military broadcasting, newspaper publishing, etc.                                                                                                                         The Adjudication and Office of Hearing and Appeals Offices - determines all security clearances

Further growth expected at Ft. Meade by 2015 includes 2000 jobs at Ft. Meade, 4000 jobs at NSA, and 10,000 contractor jobs associated with Enhanced Use Lease construction (private development on Army-owned land). These numbers do not include growth associated with the U.S. Cyber Command Headquarters, for which no numbers are yet available.

Odenton Town Center                                                                                                             The area just outside the gates of Ft. Meade has long been designated for redevelopment as a transit-oriented, pedestrian friendly mixed-use district centered around the MARC commuter train station. With over twenty developers and hundreds of parcels, the project has been slow coming to fruition, but actions in recent months have brought new life to the 1600-acre Odenton Town Center . County forward-funding of needed infrastructure, combined with an agreement providing for a developer-built road in exchange for impact credits, will allow several projects that had been on hold to move forward. Expected developments include residential/retail projects adjacent to the MARC station, redevelopment of the former Nevamar industrial site into a cutting-edge residential, retail, and office district, and first-floor retail with residential units surrounding the Hale Street corridor. East Odenton, North Odenton , and the area north of Hale street will have less dense development with significant office space combined with retail. In combination, these developments will provide long-awaited services in the form of restaurants, shops, and Class A office space for the people of Odenton and our neighbors at Ft. Meade .

Other Major Developments                                                                                                    In addition to the Odenton Town Center , a number of other mixed-use developments are planned in the West Anne Arundel County area over the next several years. They include Arundel Preserve, already underway in Hanover ; Arundel Gateway, off MD 198 in Laurel ; and Waugh Chapel Village South in Gambrills. In addition, Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT) continues to expand their National Business Park , a highly desirable location for defense contractors and government agencies due to its proximity to Ft. Meade and NSA and its technically sophisticated and environmentally sensitive design.