Washington County commissioners approve $800,000 grant application, property acquisitions, lease extension and interagency MOU; license granted for charity tour

The Washington County Board of County Commissioners on May 20 approved a package of routine but consequential items: a motion to submit and accept a Community Legacy Grant application for $800,000 to support phase 1 rehabilitation of Building 603 at Fort Richey; property acquisitions and easements for a culvert replacement and road realignment on Hopewell Road; acceptance of surplus school property to pass through to the town of Boonesborough and the BOE for the Chase 6 Boulevard project; a lease extension proposed by Vertical Bridge for a cell tower on Fort Richey property; an updated memorandum of understanding with the Hagerstown Eastern Panhandle Metropolitan Planning Organization (HEP MPO) and Region 9 planning authority; and a license agreement allowing the Community Free Clinic to stage an annual charity tournament on county-owned land at 520 Western Maryland Parkway in Hagerstown.

The most prominent item was a request from the Department of Planning and Zoning to submit a grant application and to accept funding, if awarded, from the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development's Community Legacy Grant Program on behalf of Cascade Properties LLC. "The Department of Planning and Zoning is requesting a motion to submit a grant application to and accept funding awarded from the Department of Housing and Community Development's Community Legacy Grant Program on behalf of Cascade Properties, LLC," said Jennifer Kinzer, deputy director, Department of Planning and Zoning. Kinzer said the request is for $800,000 to help cover costs for phase 1 of rehabilitating Building 603 to facilitate future development on the former Fort Richey property; she said the grant does not require county matching funds and that "any remaining balance on the project will be the responsibility of Cascade Properties." Kinzer described plans to convert Building…