Eastalco plant in Frederick County to be dismantled

Aluminum giant Alcoa's Eastalco smelting plant in Adamstown, shuttered since 2005, will be razed, with the property put on the market.

The decision to tear down the plant on the 2,200-acre property came after Alcoa officials were unable to secure a contract to keep the plant running. Last year's heavy snowfall also led to the collapse of a building, according to Earl H. Robbins Jr., Alcoa's director of state and local government affairs.

Rather than spend money to repair the building, which was a storage and assembly facility, Alcoa, of Pittsburgh, has decided to sell the Adamstown property and is looking for an interested buyer, Robbins said.

The State Department may be interested. Alcoa officials are hopeful the federal agency will select the property, possibly for a training site, Robbins said. State Department officials are still looking for such a site and "we're hopeful we can become a candidate."

Such a project could create up to 600 construction jobs and, once operational, a training facility could support up to 700 jobs, including government employees transferred from other locations, Robbins said.

In addition to the Adamstown property, State Department officials also were considering locations on the Eastern Shore, according to James A. Gugel, chief of comprehensive planning for Frederick County's planning division.

The county's current comprehensive plan still designates most of the Eastalco property's as both general industrial and light industrial zoning, Gugel said, and some sections also are zoned for agriculture.

Alcoa previously commissioned a study by economic and policy consulting firm Sage Policy Group of Baltimore that looked at four economic development scenarios for the Eastalco property, including green manufacturing jobs. If the zoning wasn't changed, the property could collectively support close to 4,000 jobs and generate nearly $13 million in annual tax revenues, according to the study.

The study was reviewed during the 2010 comprehensive plan process, Gugel said, adding that some of the scenarios in the study might have been possible under the property's designated zoning.

The Eastalco property also was considered as a possible site for a proposed trash incinerator in Frederick County, said Robert White, chairman of the Frederick County Planning Commission, in an e-mail to The Gazette.

Blaine R. Young （R）, president of the Frederick County Board of County Commissioners, said today that he believes the Eastalco property presents a "great opportunity for a lot of industries and companies."

"One of our goals is job creation," Young said of the county commissioners, adding that commissioners want to find out if the Eastalco property is under serious consideration as a location for a State Department facility.

"We're hoping to get some kind of major industry or company at that location," he said

 （source from：gazette.net）