Long-term vision documents, master plans, and strategic initiatives

MEETING RESCHEDULED: BDC to Unveil Tome School Report at Town Meeting

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UPDATE, AUGUST 31, 3016:

The BDC presentation of the Tome School Strategic Plan Report has been rescheduled for September 20, 2016 at the Port Deposit Town Council Meeting. Once presented, the report will be avaialble publically via the “Documents” tab on the BDC website.

UPDATE, AUGUST 16, 2016:

The August 16th Town Council meeting was cancelled. The Tome School report will released during the next open public session. Once presented to the Town Council the BDC will publically release and post the report on our website.

AUGUST 8, 2016:

The BDC, in partnership with Weston Solutions and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Business Development Grant Program, has completed their opportunities and constraints analysis and will be publicly unveiling the Tome School Feasibility Study at the Port Deposit Town Meeting on Tuesday August 16th. This will be the first public sharing of the report.

The opportunities and constraints analysis was a detailed investigation and analysis of the economic, market and real estate data of the region, weighed with the unique opportunities and constraints at the National Historic Tome School (geography, location, environment, historic easement, etc.) to determine the highest and best use of the campus and the buildings.

Tome School RFQ deadline extended

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The BDC will accept bids for the Tome School feasibility study up until March 7, 2016. This is an extension from the original deadline of February 29, 2016. Extended bids will still be required to meet the timeline outlined in the RFQ.

Contact Project Coordinator, Toni Lozzi, with questions.

410-378-9200

BDC releases RFQ for Tome School Project

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The BDC has released a Request for Quote for a feasbility study of the future development of the National Historic Tome School for Boys. All quotes are DUE FEBRUARY 29, 2016 by 5PM Eastern Time via eletronic submission.

All details are listed in the RFQ (attached here). Any questions should be directed to Toni Lozzi at 410-378-9200 or TLOZZI@bainbridgedev.org

Tome School Activities Report

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The follow activities report was presented in public session at the Board of Director’s meeting on September 21, 2015.

Tome Tours

We began hosting the tours in May and continued to have them held one day per month to encourage folks to safely access the campus. Each tour was taken around the entire campus and given an over history of tome and details about each of the structures. Participants ranged from young children to the elderly. I purposefully kept the groups smaller so that we could allow participants to get off of the bus and see the buildings up closer while still being able to oversee where everyone was. There were a lot of locals that came to the tours, but we also have people come from as far as DC and Philadelphia. A lot of photographers jumped at the opportunity to capture the buildings and even share those photos with the BDC. In July, a gentlemen attended the tour that worked as an officer for NAPS and had has office set in Memorial Hall. His office was down in the bottom level of the building, so I did not feel comfortable taking him down there due to the fire, but we were able to capture the same photograph of him on the steps of Memorial Hall just as he did on his last day at NAPS. From May to August, we had over 200 participants join the tours.

Tome Alumni Luncheon​

Following the establishment of the Tome summer tours, a representative from the Tome School Alumni Organization reached out to me about hosting a tour of some kind for the folks from Tome School. Initially, I planned an entire weekend event for them, but the Tome folks thought that might be too much for a first event and that we should keep it simpler. Instead, we decided to have a tour followed by a lunch in the garden. Our initial projection was 50-75 participants, and we ended up with over 125! The day started in the late morning with a check-in and then busing everyone back to the campus. The Italian Garden was set-up to enjoy a catered lunch provided by the Old Smokehouse in Port Deposit. We had a large tent in the top-center of the garden where everyone came through to receive their food and refreshments, and then tables were set up throughout the shaded area of the garden for lunch. We had to adjust our day’s activities due to the larger number of folks, and allow for 2 groups to be in the garden while the 3rd would take the tour. We took a bus tour around the campus seeing of the buildings and sharing the history of Tome School. Once in the garden, folks were allowed to walk about and see the beauty of the campus, all while being supervised by our volunteers to ensure no one was wandering or going to buildings. We had a lot of current Tome School students and teachers come with their families, we also had descendants of Tome alumni and former military men. One gentlemen was 94 years old, he had come from Annapolis to participate with his granddaughter. And he remembered his way around the base as if he had just left. Luckily we were able to cover the entire cost of the event from ticket sales alone, while also keeping the cost at a minimal $10 per person. We actually came in under budget, which is always a great thing! That is due in large part to the donations we received. The VFW allowed for us to use their tables, chairs and tent for no charge, the Cecil Truck drivers provided us a driver and bus for the day, and I was able to rope in my family to help run the event. It was a great success and we received excellent feedback in the survey we sent. One a 5 point scale, the average score for the overall event was a 4.63 and the score for recommending the event to friends and family was a 4.81! A lot of folks asked if we could do this yearly. If the Board supports holding the event again next year, I suggest we hold it in the fall for cooler weather and an even more breathtaking scenery.

Bainbridge Sunday

Sunday September 13 the Bainbridge Museum held their annual Bainbridge Sunday event. This year the museum provided buses for the tours which made a wonderful difference because it allowed for me to talk to the participants directly rather than driving and talking! We took 5 rounds of tours, the first two tours having 2 full buses, the final 3 having just one bus, totaling 201 participants for the event! The day ran very smoothly, thanks to the excellent support from the Museum. There was a gentlemen in his 90’s that trained over 1000 men while at Bainbridge. And he still remembered where each regiment was during the operating days. As usual, folks returning back were shocked to see that the once boisterous NTCB was open land. But everyone was very thankful for the opportunity to come back.

WAVES

Early in the summer, a former WAVE contacted me that they were holding their reunion in Lancaster PA September 13-15 and asked if they would be able to take a tour of the property. After Board approval, I let them know that it would be great to have them. On Tuesday September 15, 2 busses full of former WAVES came to Port Deposit for the day. While one bus was taking the tour, the other was downtown seeing all the treasures at the Museum. Almost none of them had been back to the property since they left and while they knew it was gone they were so shocked to see it empty. Luckily, their barracks, Hunter Hall, is still standing and they were extremely excited to see it still there, hidden slightly behind trees. We took them by the old “grinder”, which was their drill field. They said they call it that because they marched so much they ground their feet into the cement.The women shared with me stories of boot camp, what daily life was like, the only time they got to go on liberty (Lancaster, which is why they held their reunion there), what they transitioned into after boot camp and why they enlisted to begin with. While driving through their “neck of the woods”, and by the grinder, they started to sing their old navy songs that they sang while marching. They also remembered their identification numbers and did a sound off on the bus. The women were wonderful and so thankful to be allowed back. IT was an amazing experience for me to get to spend time so closely with these women and hear their stories. Often while running tours I had to handle everything and don’t get to converse with the folks and hear their stories as much, so this was a wonderful surprise. Plus, it was the first time I have ever had ANY WAVES. And their stories are much different to hear then the former Navy men. In total, there were a little under 100 women that came. After both tours were finished, I sent all the women to Lee’s Landing for a wonderful lunch and shared some spots in town for them to see while they enjoyed their last 2 hours in Port.

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.”

BDC Provides Tome School Update

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“We are still actively working with the State Fire Marshall’s Office on their investigation of the fire at Memorial Hall. We cannot comment on the investigation at this time but when there is a public update available, we will certainly provide that right away.

We are also working with the Deputy Fire Marshall and the Cecil County Sheriff’s Office to find the best solution for the ongoing security issues at Bainbridge.

We recently completed our semi-annual operations and maintenance inspection at the property. The report came back quite favorable. The only requested repairs to be made, are to the breaches in the fencing along 276. We have been focusing our property maintenance efforts on repairing the breaches along the entire property line and have made excellent progress in the past two months. Inspections are performed following the repairs and then we proceed to check the breaches to see if they are staying closed. We are very pleased to report that the repairs are holding and we are now working on closures along 276.

While Memorial Hall is something of great importance to the Town of Port Deposit, Cecil County and the BDC, we unfortunately do not have an update to provide at this time. We are still evaluating options for moving forward.”

-Provided by Toni Lozzi, Project Coordinator