M.H. Jim Estepp

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With the new year comes new strategies for economic development in Prince George’s, including collaborations and learning from the successes of others.

Along these lines, some of the county’s business leaders have sought out the leadership of Howard County Executive Kenneth Ulman (D). Ulman has been a rising star in Maryland politics and recently was the keynote speaker at a Maryland Chamber of Commerce event.

His county has been especially focused on the potential for growth through the Pentagon’s base realignment program, which is shifting thousands of jobs from Virginia to nearby Fort Meade in Anne Arundel County.

Prince George’s could learn from some of Howard’s strategies as it plots its own economic growth through the base realignment and other changes occurring at Joint Base Andrews in Camp Springs, said M.H. James Estepp, president and CEO of the Greater Prince George’s Business Roundtable.

To maximize this potential, Howard has included the base realignment in its Economic Development Authority’s five-year plan. The authority has been tasked with attracting more federal contractors and ensuring investment is available to support necessary infrastructure.

Howard also hired Kent Menser, a 27-year Army veteran — including a three-year stint as garrison commander of Fort Meade — as executive director of its office for the base realignment.

“Hopefully, we can emulate some of what Howard’s doing,” Estepp said.

In November, Ulman laid out his county’s strategy to Estepp’s group.

“A big part of the equation is our business climate. I see my role to be the cheerleader and promoter of our county,” Ulman said at a roundtable meeting.

“You have to understand what to do to make sure you get the county through the next 10, 20, 30 years in the future,” he said, adding that Howard also has cut back on several staff expenses such as cell phones and its own printing shop to keep itself leaner for other economic development efforts.

He also referred to the steps his county has taken to keep its permitting process smooth. Project proposals receive no more than three plan reviews, Ulman said.

Prince George’s has been working to improve its own permitting policies to reduce redundancies and make the process more transparent and predictable. The county’s economic development team has said it hopes to have a plan in the near future.

Estepp said having Ulman speak with Prince George’s business leaders is particularly important because several major employers have relocated to Howard in recent years. Integral Systems, which provides satellite ground systems, and Merkle, which provides database marketing and other services, both left Lanham for Columbia in 2008.

Prince George’s also has been unable to keep technology startups graduating from the University of Maryland’s incubator programs from flocking to Howard once they’ve grown a bit, said David Iannucci, assistant deputy chief administrative officer for the county’s economic development team. He said the county is determined to reverse that and create better opportunities to nurture those startups in Prince George’s.

Ulman said his county’s policy is to contact the “losing” county whenever businesses are considering relocating to Howard, but Prince George’s officials never got back to his staff. He said he has discussed situations such as this with current Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D).

“It’s important to learn what the competition is doing, but we also want to be able to collaborate and work together,” Estepp said.

Iannucci also suggested looking into a policy from his days as economic development chief for Baltimore County. That county decided not to offer economic incentives for businesses leaving Baltimore city for the county to ensure the relocation was purely a business-based decision and not artifically influenced, he said.

“There’s opportunity for the same policy in the Washington metropolitan region,” Iannucci said, adding that he’s been an advocate of regionalism since his time with Baltimore County.

“We see the same potential for strengthening that here,” he said, pointing out that Baker and Gwen McCall, president and CEO of the county’s economic development corporation, toured Howard with Ulman last spring.

The two counties are already collaborating on a $145 million project to lay high-speed fiber-optic lines connecting government buildings across eight counties in central Maryland and two major cities. Howard County is coordinating and managing the network, which is to be operational in 2013 and is funded through the 2009 federal stimulus package.

For Prince George’s, this will mean broadband service at 86 more elementary schools and 33 government facilities around the Capital Beltway.

The new network is sure to bring more work to the county's smaller tech companies, John Huggins, president of Broadband Connect of Accokeek, has said in the past.

Ulman said the network will help Maryland become the most wired state in the country.

“It contributes to the One Maryland vibe,” he said, referring to the efforts of Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) to encourage collaboration throughout the state.

The counties have also had conversations on retail and marketing issues, as well as technology, Iannucci said.

Estepp said this dialogue between jurisdictions is exactly what the county needs.

“A good approach is paramount to economic development,” he said.

lrobbins@gazette.net