M. Scott Bowen; Patrick Fleagle; Brian L. Flook; Peter J. Kurz; Richard L. Lum, Jr. Terms expire 2016.
John F. Barr; Paul Pinkerton; John B. Slidell; John Van Der Cruyssen. Terms expire 2017.
James C. Devlin; Tim Henry; Stephen Oder; Thomas B. Riford. Terms expire 2019.
Ex officio: R. Michael Gill, Secretary of Commerce; Robert C. Brennan, Executive Director, Maryland Economic Development Corp.; Kathleen (Kassie) Lewis, Director, Dept. of Business Development, Washington County.
Dori J. Nipps, Executive Director (chosen by Board of Directors with approval of Washington County Board of County Commissioners)
14320 Barrick Ave., Cascade, MD 21719
The PenMar Development Corporation was established as a public instrumentality of the State in May 1997 (Chapter 737, Acts of 1997). Its purpose was to oversee the development for civilian uses of Fort Ritchie, a U.S. Army base located in the northeastern corner of Washington County, Maryland (near the Pennsylvania border), which closed in 1998.
Fort Ritchie began in 1926 as a brigade training area for the Maryland National Guard. Named to honor Governor Albert C. Ritchie, Camp Ritchie was activated in June 1942 as a Military Intelligence Training Center of the U.S. War Department. From 1945 to 1948, the post again was used as a training station for the Maryland National Guard. To support the Alternate Joint Communications Center in Pennsylvania, the U.S. Army acquired the Fort in 1948. Later, headquarters for the Communications Command Continental United States of the U.S. Army transferred from Alexandria, Virginia, to Fort Ritchie in 1971. The Fort ceased operating as a military installation on September 30, 1998.
On October 4, 2006, the U.S. Army transferred ownership of Fort Richie to the Penmar Development Corporation. The following day, the Corporation sold it to Corporate Office Properties Trust for mixed-use development. The first building (a multipurpose community center) in the redevelopment project opened in September 2008, and, thereafter, the Corporation continued to monitor development of the site. Effective July 24, 2012, however, the Corporation regained ownership of the site, including 591 acres of land, on-site buildings, a water system, and a community center.
On July 12, 2016, the PenMar Development Corporation and the Washington County Board of County Commissioners entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to transfer the Fort Ritchie property, and most of the assets and liabilities of the Corporation, by September 15, 2016, to Washington County government.
In April 2017, the PenMar Development Corporation was dissolved and all remaining assets were assigned to Washington County government (Chapter 141, Acts of 2017).
Formerly, the Corporation's Board of Directors consisted of eighteen members. Fifteen were appointed by the Board of County Commissioners of Washington County, Maryland. Three served ex officio.
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