Report Sees 22,000 New Meade Jobs, More Than Planned

The number of jobs that will locate to Anne Arundel's Fort George G. Meade over the next six years is likely to be more than double or triple the total approved in 2005 as part of the Pentagon's base realignment and closure plan, says the Howard County official who helps track the installation's regional impact.

As many as 22,000 jobs may be added to Fort Meade by 2013, though the figure is an early estimate and is subject to change, said Kent D. Menser, executive director of the Howard BRAC office.

The total reflects jobs locating on Fort Meade property and does not include contractor jobs that might locate off the post in the surrounding area, or jobs in fields such as public safety and education that would be generated by the post's growth. The 90-year-old facility, named for a Civil War general, employs the fourth-largest workforce of Army installations in the continental United States.

Menser released the new numbers in his latest presentation to businesses, government and community groups to spur greater local involvement in planning for growth.

"We can't hold up planning to wait until people move," said Menser, a retired Army colonel who was Fort Meade's commander from 1990 to 1993. He believes critical planning must be done in the next two years.

"There's not much interest until you see a building or until something very tangible happens," he said. "Then it's too late to influence the project itself."

Here's how Menser's office, using state and federal figures, estimates Fort Meade's job growth in the next five to seven years: the realignment will bring 5,692 jobs, many of them from Northern Virginia, to the Army installation as part of its focus on intelligence, homeland security and information technology.

The National Security Agency, which is based at Fort Meade, is undergoing an expansion that is expected to add 4,000 jobs, Menser said.

Another 2,000 jobs from other military operations are expected to move to Fort Meade, for an expected total of more than 12,000 new jobs at the 5,067-acre installation.

In addition, Fort Meade is leasing 540 acres outside of its security fence to developer Trammell Crow Co. to build office and retail space and two golf courses for the installation. Preliminary estimates of the number of jobs generated by this lease arrangement range from 7,000 to 10,000, Menser said.

Anne Arundel and Howard officials are leading efforts among local officials to assess the regional impact of Fort Meade's growth through a newly formed committee that includes representatives from Carroll, Prince George's, Montgomery and Baltimore counties, along with Baltimore and Laurel.

Also, Howard, Anne Arundel and Laurel are seeking federal grant money to study the impact of Fort Meade's growth on major commuter routes and community services.

Marsha S. McLaughlin, Howard's director of the Department of Planning and Zoning, believes residents will first feel the effects of the expansion in transportation.

"It's something we've been concerned about all along," McLaughlin said.

Estimates show that the expansion at Fort Meade could generate 4,759 new jobs in Howard. That could lead to a sharper demand for housing and higher prices. But McLaughlin said that Fort Meade's growth will not immediately lead to more building of houses in the county. Residential development, she said, is governed by the county's General Plan and growth management ordinances, and they would have to be revised.

Eventually, as Fort Meade draws more families to the county, the school system may feel the need to expand facilities, she said.

"We will watch with the school system as this starts to play out," she said.