Highway Backer a Steady Ehrlich Donor

What has kept the family from building, said former Prince George's county executive Wayne K. Curry (D), is one simple thing: "They don't have the interchanges."

Without major road improvements, said former Montgomery planning chairman Gus B. Bauman, "Konterra can only develop so far."

Under Ehrlich, several projects aimed at resolving those problems have moved ahead. A study published Oct. 14, 2004, for instance, details plans to build a $100 million interchange off I-95 and makes clear the purpose:

"Sufficient access to the Interstate system will be critical for the Konterra property to develop into its full potential," the State Highway Administration report states.

Ehrlich also included $1 million in the budget this year to study extending Metro's Green Line through Konterra. One option would divert the rail line from the CSX tracks into the project's town center.

State Sen. John A. Giannetti Jr. (D-Prince George's), whose legislative district includes Konterra, said he began aggressively pushing the Metro extension after meeting with Caleb Gould.

"He told me someone approached him and asked if he would be interested in a station there," recalled Giannetti, who has received $3,000 in contributions from the family. "I thought, 'Wow, we had never thought about that.' "

Giannetti took the idea to Metro officials and argued for it in the Senate Budget Committee. Transportation Secretary Robert L. Flanagan said it is an idea that has been discussed but that at this early stage virtually every idea will be considered.

Prince George's planners are also discussing the idea but have questioned diverting the rail line through the town center. "Getting off the straight line probably doesn't make a lot of sense," Dernoga said. But the Konterra team is pursuing it aggressively. "They have essentially tried to take the bull by the horns."

No project, though, has been more central to the Goulds' plans than the connector, which was slated to intersect the property before the family owned the land. On master plans going back decades, the road includes off-ramps into the property, and in more recent years, Konterra has been clearly identified as the destination.

One ramp is "needed to provide access to a proposed upscale mall," planning documents say. Another is for access to the "proposed Konterra Town Center area."

As much as the Goulds have sought the highway, though, they are not donating land for the road or its interchanges, as some developers do. State Highway Administrator Neil J. Pedersen said the properties involved are being appraised and that it would be improper for him to estimate the cost to the state.

Pedersen, who signed the final environmental statement, said he knew nothing about the campaign contributions but said the Jan. 3 approval was certainly a momentous occasion.

"This was an indication that they were prepared to approve the intercounty connector," he said. "That's probably how [the Goulds] viewed it, too."

Research database editor Derek Willis, researcher Meg Smith and staff writer Miranda S. Spivack contributed to this report.