Bainbridge Board Reaches out to Government Officials

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“PORT DEPOSIT — It’s going to take support from all levels of government to transform the 1,200-acre former U.S. Naval Training Center at Bainbridge into an economic engine to benefit all Maryland citizens.

That’s the message delivered Monday by Bainbridge Development Corporation Executive Director Donna Tapley and Chairman Michael Pugh to representatives from Port Deposit, Cecil County, the state of Maryland and the federal government.

“We hope this meeting could help us push this project forward,” Pugh said. “We need your help.”

BDC officials briefed the delegation and others Monday on the status of the redevelopment of Bainbridge.

“Some say nothing is ever going to happen there, but I’m optimistic,” said Delegate Kevin Hornberger (R-Cecil) on Monday after a site tour and follow-up meeting at the Donaldson Brown Center ended.

About 20 officials and staff attended the meeting and tour.

“There’s really two separate sites on the property,” Pugh explained for the benefit of several participants that were seeing Bainbridge for the first time.

The largest site, which potentially could be the quicker site to redevelop, is the roughly 1,200-acre former Navy base. Despite the fact that there is site-wide soil contamination, Pugh said industrial use wouldn’t require remediation, so the BDC could attract prospects at that site right away, if it can receive county funding for sewer service in this year’s budget.

“Commercial projects would require some remediation, but not as much as is required for residential use,” Pugh said. “That’s why the plan has changed to focus on nearly 800 acres for commercial and/or industrial users.”

A 50-acre adjacent parcel, which was formerly the Tome School for Boys campus, is the other focus of development for the BDC, which has a new proposal to expand that site to include an additional 100 acres to help entice more interest.

Since the former Tome School site is on the National Register of Historic Places, it increases the cost of redevelopment, which adds another challenge, according to BDC leaders.

The only buildings that remain at the former school are in disrepair, which Pugh says has been caused from years of neglect that started when the Navy still owned the property.

Adding to the problem was a devastating fire in September that severely damaged Memorial Hall, which was thought by many to be the premier building at the Tome School site.

After years of ups and downs, the BDC is now focused on getting the U.S. Navy to pay for environmental cleanup costs. At the same time, the BDC is seeking sewer funding that will enable it to attract companies to the site sooner rather than later. In conjunction with sewer funding, officials are in the process of applying for enterprise zone designation and sustainable communities designation, which would open the door for grants and tax credits.

They are already showing business prospects the site.

“We’d like the state delegation to support improvements to the Interstate 95 interchange at Route 222, and we need funding for Tome School,” Tapley said. “We need the county’s support on the sewer and our federal delegation’s help to put pressure on the Navy.”

The BDC is waiting for the Navy’s response to a new appraisal that was done on the property in February.

“We have to hold the Navy accountable for what they did to this town and this county,” Tapley said.

State Sen. Stephen Hershey (R-Upper Shore) is concerned that the condition of the buildings at Tome School may cost too much to restore.

“One option would be to take it off the Historic Register, but Tome School is near and dear to Port Deposit,” Tapley said. “Right now, there seems to be interest to restoring it.”

Hornberger believes the state delegation has a chance to make serious changes in the county.

“This is one of the biggest opportunities we have to do something positive for Cecil County,” he said. “We’ve got over three years to figure this out.”

Pugh thanked all the officials who attended Monday’s meeting.

“There’s no reason we can’t make this happen if we all agree and go in the same direction,” Pugh said. “It’s the BDC’s mission to be an economic engine, maybe we’re a slow engine, but we have a capable development partner and new leadership.” ”

BDC Provides Briefing to Economic Development Commission

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“It seemed appropriate that the county’s Economic Development Commission (EDC) was at the Donaldson Brown Center to hear a talk about the development of Bainbridge.

Brown was a financial titan of his era and the mansion, perched on a cliff with breathtaking views of the Susquehanna River, is a testament to his prestige and love of this area. From what I have heard about him, Brown would have loved this challenge.

Bainbridge Development Corporation (BDC) executive director Donna Tapley said she is looking for the support and energy of the EDC to help make Bainbridge a priority economic development site in the county.

As the economy has improved, there have been more prospects tapping on Bainbridge’s door to look at the enormous, undeveloped site. Unfortunately, infrastructure issues, lack of incentives and the need to get the U.S. Navy to settle on continuing pollution problems have made it difficult to get anyone to sign on the dotted line.

Tapley said one of the partner developers even brought a prospect exclusively to Bainbridge, but the same prospect was working through the state and was directed to another site in Cecil County. County Economic Development Director Lisa Webb explained that prospects are assigned different names by economic development entities to allow companies to freely look at options without setting off alarms where they currently base their business so the county office had no idea the BDC and county economic development office were working with the same company.

But the BDC wants to get an equal footing in order to set the hook and reel-in prospects. They are actively looking into Enterprise Zone status for Bainbridge as well as a designation of a Sustainable Community. Both come with incentives for those companies that settle there.

The BDC also has plans to increase the sewer capacity and add sewer pipes. They will look for funding sources.

Artesian Water, which offers water within Port Deposit’s town limits, has said they can get 240,000 gallons of water to the serve the site within 60 days, if needed, Tapley said.

The Navy was given a revised appraisal which is being reviewed.

While some may lament that it seems that it is taking forever for the Navy to act, Tapley said the Navy is being very responsive.

“The Navy exceeds their usual pace with this,” she said.

One of the things the BDC is trying to get across to the Navy is that the community has suffered losses because of the initial lack of movement to get rid of pollution problems and the time that has elapsed since new pollution issues were discovered by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2010. Tapley said these include the town needing to turn their water resources to a private company, the loss of a partner who was rehabbing the old Tome School and the loss of Cecil College’s math and tech building which was slated to be constructed on the Bainbridge site, but had to be moved to the North East campus or the college would have lost funding for the project.

Throughout this long process with the Navy, the BDC decided they needed to revise their concept for the site. They first wanted to get Bainbridge to be more of a research and development facility, but have broadened their vision to include distribution and manufacturing.

This new plan was unveiled before Port Deposit’s town board in January and presented to the County Executive and Cecil County Council in February. Tapley said the BDC is now working with the town to modify their comprehensive plan and zoning to work with the new concept.

Tapley said the BDC views the arson at the Tome School’s Memorial Hall as being catastrophic, but vows the site will someday be rehabilitated and put to good use. Anyone who takes on the project will find that 100 acres of land around the historic school is included in the deal.

Tapley said she is before the EDC to get ideas and encouragement for Bainbridge’s development. It is the same reason that the town of Port Deposit is planning informational signs in the downtown and why there are regular tours of the site – to get the buzz going about the possibilities at Bainbridge.

Bainbridge is at a critical point, Tapley told the EDC. She expressed optimism that the BDC’s plans will result in Bainbridge becoming an economic asset to Cecil County.”