With Carroll voters having played a key role installing a Republican in the governor's mansion, county GOP leaders are looking for state support for projects such as the Warfield complex in Sykesville.
"This is the jewel of economic development in Carroll County," said Susan W. Krebs, a Republican who last week was elected to the House of Delegates from a newly created district in South Carroll.
Krebs said one of her first orders of business will be to organize a meeting among Sykesville officials, the recently elected county commissioners and the Carroll and Howard legislative delegations to discuss efforts to create a $20 million business and academic center that could bring up to 1,200 jobs to the county.
"The county needs to be enthusiastic with its focus and support," she said. "We all want to be on the same page and standing firm so this gets funding."
The town annexed the 96-acre property along Route 32 in 1999 and has worked steadily to restore Warfield's dozen century-old buildings into a business and academic center. Krebs said the meeting should be on-site to allow participants to tour the cluster of stately brick buildings, which resembles a college campus.
Although the Warfield project found favor with the state, it lacks the funding needed to get it off the ground. Sykesville Mayor Jonathan S. Herman has worked closely with the Glendening administration on the project and hopes to continue the effort with new Republican leadership, he said.
"This election may help even more," Herman said. "I am encouraged, and I don't see any problems. We will have Republican commissioners working with a Republican governor, and they will lobby for this project. This election takes Warfield out of the political realm and makes it a countywide project, which it should be."
Sen. Larry E. Haines, leader of Carroll's all-Republican delegation, said the Warfield project stands to benefit from the election Tuesday, in which Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. won 79 percent of the county vote, the highest percentage across the state.
"The Ehrlich administration supports us in moving ahead with everything at Warfield," said Haines, who handily won a fourth term Tuesday. "This is a new era. I finally have the pleasure of working with a Republican governor."
Carroll's delegation often has been at odds with Gov. Parris N. Glendening, and the legislators are predicting more cooperation and more funding for county projects now that a Republican is in the State House.
"We will be No. 1 on Ehrlich's list for a lot of projects because he knows we have been ignored for eight years," said Del. Carmen Amedori, who was elected to a second term representing central Carroll County.
Haines said that on the first day of the session next year he will introduce a resolution seeking funds for a proposed bypass for Hampstead. He said he might reintroduce several other projects that Glendening canceled, such as bypasses for Westminster and Manchester.
"There will be more cooperation from all the departments," said Haines, who is minority whip in the Senate. "We can revisit many projects and make changes."
On the Warfield project, Haines said, he will push to move the state police crime lab from Pikesville to the $60 million Police Training Center, now in its final phase on property adjacent to Warfield. That project has brought improvements to most of the infrastructure that serves the complex.
The State Highway Administration recently announced plans to build a $3.1 million intersection at Route 32 and Main Street to create a gateway into the complex and downtown Sykesville.
The town has viewed Warfield as a boon to economic development since the state made the vacant buildings available six years ago. Sykesville has worked steadily on its redevelopment. Plans call for leasing the restored buildings, many of which were patient wards, and sharing the profits with the state and the county.
Krebs, the Republican winner in District 9B, a new seat that represents Sykesville and Eldersburg, has invited Sen. Robert H. Kittleman of Howard to see the site's potential. Krebs said she will enlist assistance from Howard County, which has about 50 business parks.
"We need that Howard County relationship to draw on their expertise," Krebs said.
Redistricting, which created Krebs' seat, placed South Carroll, the county's most populous and fastest-growing region, in Kittleman's area. Kittleman, who ran unopposed last week, said that although he is unfamiliar with the Warfield project, he is willing to work with the town and Krebs.
"I will work with the town of Sykesville in any way that I can," he said.