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While nothing is final, a possible site for a new fairgrounds has been identified: the 84-acre Linthicum farm located on West Old Baltimore Road in Boyds, Svrcek said.

The grain and livestock farm, near the former Comsat site, is flanked by Interstate 270 and the proposed Corridor Cities Transitway.

The board of the agricultural center met on March 18 in a closed session with about 150 of the organization’s nearly 2,200 lifetime members to discuss financial circumstances and the decision to engage in a development study with the City of Gaithersburg.

The grounds and buildings at 16 Chestnut St., assessed at nearly $17 million in July, ‘‘is not for sale,” Svrcek said. ‘‘Our top choice is to stay where we are.”

Yet fair officials presented members with several possible options for the future, including renovating the current facilities; building a new state-of-the-art facility on the current site; or developing the current site and moving the fair to a new location.

George Lechlider, 87, a former board member, said that while he was surprised by the presentation, ‘‘I had figured that they was going to have to do something.”

Lechlider, one of three men involved in the purchase of the fairgrounds property for $12,500 in 1949, left the March 18 meeting with an open mind. ‘‘It’s very important to me that we continue the fair, no matter where it is, because of the young people. That’s why we spent so much time and effort from the beginning.”

Pressing concerns

The cost of maintaining the fairgrounds is growing as the need to upgrade the aging center becomes more imminent, Svrcek said. The center’s buildings, barns and infrastructure, including the water and electrical systems, need significant repairs and upgrades.

Only four of the past 11 years have been profitable for the agricultural center, while electric, sewer and gas bills have risen demonstrably, he said.

In January 2006, the fair board’s strategic planning committee embarked on a two-year study that has included more than 700 hours of meeting and research time.

Three premiere fair and exposition center architects — Bullock and Smith of Knoxville, Tenn., WDC of Springfield, Ohio, and Gh2 of Norman, Okla. — surveyed the fairgrounds and provided ‘‘ugly” estimates, Svrcek said.

A simple renovation with no new buildings was estimated at $3.5 million to $5.5 million, while renovating the buildings and barns and adding a new 76,000-square-foot multi-purpose pavilion could cost $18 million. The projected costs of building a new state-of-the-art facility at the current site ranged from $33.5 million to $50.8 million, he said. The center, helped by good weather and increased fair advertising, has earned just more than $500,000 the last two years, according to center data. However, during the last decade it has mostly operated at a loss.

Mortgage estimates indicate principal and interest payments on a 20-year $5 million loan at a 6.5 interest rate would run about $450,000 annually, Svrcek said.

‘‘We would have to have banner years every year for the next 20 years in order to make that payment,” he said.

Looking ahead

While the strategic planning committee of the agricultural center has said that it would consider selling the fairgrounds, Svrcek said the organization could decide to stay put and find ways to fund renovations, including private donations, increased corporate sponsorship or an endowment.

‘‘Once we know what kind of vision for this land there is, then we can determine the value of the land and that data becomes an essential part of determining other economic opportunities for the agricultural center,” he said.

To help do that, fair officials plan to begin working with city planners to adopt a new master plan for the 62.3-acre property, now divided into two approximately 30-acre parcels that fall under different zoning categories, he said.

The process is projected to take several years and will include design charrettes with community input and public hearings. It could begin as early as fall, said Gaithersburg’s Director of Planning and Code Enforcement Greg Ossont.

In the meantime, fair officials plan to continue to meet with city and county leaders, as well as civic leaders in Clarksburg, Svrcek said.

Funding a new facility

One method of paying for a new fairgrounds facility is equity, attorney Jim Clifford, a member of the strategic planning committee, told those assembled on March 18. Rezoning the property would help to establish its maximum value.

Clifford said the agricultural center will continue to own the fairgrounds; a developer will not be involved until the fairgrounds’ future is decided.

Fair officials hired Townscape Design LLC, of Clarksville, to develop a preliminary concept plan, which envisions a town center on the fairgrounds.

Drawings showed single-family homes, townhouses, apartments, condominiums, retail and office space, Svrcek said.

If the land is ever sold, profits must be reinvested in another fairgrounds facility elsewhere in the county, according to the agricultural center’s charter.

Gene Walker, president of the fair board, named the Linthicum farm as a possible new location for the fair during the March 18 meeting. Charlie Linthicum was an original signer of the agricultural center’s articles of incorporation in 1949.

The property has access to water, natural gas, electricity and sewer and plenty of room for parking; still, fair officials insist nothing is a done deal.

‘‘This whole process in strategic planning could result in learning that we have the best of all worlds and it’s not going to change,” Svrcek said. ‘‘We just don’t know; we have to see the process through to the end to determine what options are going to be best for the future.”