County waits for the BRAC boom Planning for the equivalent of four Pentagons on a shoestring budget

The Capital: Hometown Annapolis ^ | December 13, 2009 | JOSHUA STEWART

[combat_boots]

The job surge at Fort George G. Meade will turn the sprawling west county Army installation into one of the largest workplaces in the nation, making it well more than double the size of the Pentagon.

By Paul W. Gillespie - The Capital Bob Hodge, a safety inspector with the Army Corps of Engineers, has kept a watch on the frenzy of construction at Fort George G. Meade that started several months ago. Work is continuing on millions of square feet of office space, including the Defense Information Systems Agency’s new building where Hodge is standing. Advertisement

By 2015, an estimated 52,225 people - more people than live in the world's eight smallest countries and well more than the 36,408 who live in Annapolis - are expected to report to work at the post every day.

But that's just the beginning

[rightwingextremist1776]

Lots and lots of eggs in one basket if you ask me....

[Starboard]

Up until recently, Anne Arundel County has avoided the nightmarish traffic congestion plaguing most other counties that surround DC. BRAC will bring in lots of good jobs, but at price to the quality of life in the county. There are always tradeoffs.

Thanks for posting.

[Traveler59]

Same issue down here in the Florida panhandle with Eglin AFB. With Duke Field, Hurlburt Field, Eglin Air Force Base, and soon the Army 7th Special Forces, the military is the largest single employer in the county.

- Traveler

[El Gato]

I do not think that it’s militarily wise to concentrate so much military function in so few places. Nor do I think it offers much in the way of cost savings. In fact in these time of shrinking real budgets (inflation adjusted), I think it costs money building facilities to replace those at posts and bases being closed. In the long run the facilities would have to be replaced as they age, but in the long run we will hopefully no longer be fighting two wars, and will be rid of a certain Kenyan usurper.

[markomalley]

I do not think that it’s militarily wise to concentrate so much military function in so few places. Nor do I think it offers much in the way of cost savings. In fact in these time of shrinking real budgets (inflation adjusted), I think it costs money building facilities to replace those at posts and bases being closed. In the long run the facilities would have to be replaced as they age, but in the long run we will hopefully no longer be fighting two wars, and will be rid of a certain Kenyan usurper.

Most of the expansion at Ft. Meade is coming from closing down facilities inside the beltway. The biggest change comes from the relocation of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) from the Skyline Building in Arlington up there. Most of the other jobs are from contractors who will inevitably relocate from Northern Virginia to someplace closer to the Meade.

I live really near Ft Meade and am looking forward to my property value going way up in a couple of years as a result of this (and, believe me, I plan to sell and get the h3ll out of Maryland when that happens).