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Economic & Tourism department reports small commercial growth, new grants and ferry feasibility meetings
Summary
The county's economic and tourism director reported a 2.4% unemployment rate, roughly $52 million in commercial property sales for FY25 and a pipeline of roughly $72 million in active deals; staff announced new grants, a site-selector tool and participation in a multi-county ferry feasibility study.
Heather Tamelli, Queen Anne's County economic and tourism development director, briefed the county commissioners July 8 on key performance indicators, recent grants and several ongoing initiatives including a multi-county ferry feasibility study and a new online site-selector tool.
Tamelli told commissioners the county continues to hold a low unemployment rate of about 2.4% (second lowest among peer counties), and that the commercial property tax base remains near 11% of total taxable value. She said county assessors reported about $52 million in commercial property sales for fiscal year 2025 (July 1, 2024–June 30, 2025) and that the county has about $72 million in deals in process, which staff described as a combination of capital investment, expansion and project pipeline work that may not all translate directly to property-tax base increases.
The department introduced an online site-selector tool (Resimplify) listing about 50 commercial and industrial properties with linked details and a map; staff said the tool reduces manual property research and will be added to the county website’s resources.
Tamelli also provided grant updates: a $112,000 grant for a mobile visitor center, a $50,000 Maryland alcohol-production marketing grant, and three approved site-readiness grants submitted to MEDCO. She said the county received a $4,000 Maryland 250 marketing grant for event promotion. Tamelli said the county was working with the Abishore Regional Council on a regional business loan program in early exploratory stages and implementing an ag-tourism and land-use study in partnership with Planning and the Ag Extension Office.
On ferry planning, Tamelli described meetings with the Maryland Department of Transportation and Anne Arundel County as part of a five-county ferry feasibility study. She said federal grants awarded in a nearby county include funding to purchase two ferries, one proposed route to the Matapeake area on Kent Island, and that if funding proceeds the project timeline could stretch into 2027–2028 because of boat procurement and other steps.
April Plummer, marketing administrator, updated tourism metrics and said 2023 visitor statistics show a 4.7% increase in visitors and a 6.3% increase in visitor spending compared with pre-COVID benchmarks; hotel-tax calendar-year 2024 collections rose about 3.2% over the previous comparable period. Plummer highlighted recent international media hosting (a U.K. FAM tour) and on-the-ground promotion work with local restaurants, historic sites and maritime businesses.
Commissioners asked for follow-up information on several pending commercial deals and applauded the launch of the online site tool and the department’s grant activity and marketing work.
