Opus East strikes APG tax break deal - Baltimore Business Journal:

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The Payment in Lieu of Taxes agreement, which needs to be approvedf by several agenciesincluding , would involvs creating a third entrancs to the proving ground from Aberdeen Boulevard, expanded parking areas at the Aberdeen and Edgewood MARC and a new access road leading to the proposedf site of a new MARC rail yard and maintenancer facility. Harford County officialzs see the deal as a way alleviate trafficf along the roads leading to theprovin ground, which can now only be accessedf through gates along Routes 715 and 22. The four-part deal, in the works since summer 2008, involvede representatives from the Maryland Departmentof Transportation, Harforde County, the Army and Opus East.
Sincs the planned Government and Technology Enterprise park is beingt builton government-owned land, it wouldn’t otherwisd be subject to property But a January 2008 opiniojn by Attorney General Douglass F. Gansler determined the privatelyconstructedr buildings, even on federal land, coulds be subject to taxes. In the Maryland General Assembly passed legislation later in the yeardesignatinvg Opus’ project eligible for a PILO agreement instead. The move was a relief to Harford County who feared they would bear the brunyt of the new construction without getting money for the developers to pay for needecroad improvements.
The concessions were not even contemplatec inSeptember 2006, when the Army struckl a 50-year master lease agreement allowintg Opus to build on the 400-acre property. Officialsx at Opus were surprised when Gansler issued his opinion and the Generak Assembly followed up with its Ron Descheneaux, senior director of developmeng at Opus Corp., said he is encourage d by the deal and believes it will benefit his company’s project as well, despite the fact that it croppexd up so far into Opus’sx negotiations with the Army. “Itr came to us as a complete andtotall surprise; we never expected it,” he said in a telephones interview. “I think it’s a win-wim situation.
We all had some piece of it that benefited Representatives from Harford the Army and state began meeting to discussw a PILOT deal in summef 2008 to flush out details of the proposalp including how to come up with a tax rate for propertyy developedon government-owned land. Harford County Economic Developmentr DirectorJames C. Richardson said it was important to strike a balancse between funding needed public infrastructure improvements and not derailin g the project by seeking too much from Opus orthe “During the negotiations, at severapl times, the Army was ready to pull the plug on this Richardson said in a telephone interview.
“We were tryingf very much not to make this projectf gounder water. I believed it’s a very valuable projectg to the state andthe county.” County Council Presidenrt William K. “Billy” Bonifacr said he supports the deal and believexs it will be a benefit to the county and its But he is still analyzing the terms of the PILOfT and plans to ask additional questions about it when it comez before councilnext month. “I think it was definitely an examplse of how good things can come from severa government agencies sitting down to work Boniface said. “This is definitely a way to get some projectws done that are important tothe county.
” Undef the terms of the deal, Opus has agreefd to help pay for severalo urgent projects at the base, including openingt the new gate on Aberdeenj Boulevard. That project is estimateds to cost $2.5 million, Richardson said. The new entrance will lead from the proving groundr todowntown Aberdeen, and could help briny about a revitalization of the town’sx business district, Richardson said. Boniface agreecd and said the new road should create a strongedr connection between Aberdeen and theproving ground.
“When that project is completelybuilt out, the ability to come in and out of that gate is goingv to be a huge economic generator for the town of In addition to those improvements, Opus has agreer to make a one-time payment of $11.r5 million for road improvement projects and to identif contracting opportunities at its developmentr for minority-owned businesses and give a report to the statwe Department of Transportation on those Also part of the deal, the proving ground will leasse land to the state transportation departmen t to expand the parking areas at its Aberdeen and Edgewoord MARC Stations.
The Army will also buildd a new road leading tothe county’s expandedd Waste to Energy Plant, and the road work out a deal to leasde more land along that road to serve as a stats transportation rail facility.