Business View Magazine | December 2018

362 363 Main Street, and Rock Hall is working on that initia- tive, too. Currently, they’re an affiliate program, so the towns are really starting to focus on retail, events, and attractions to their community.A quarter of our population lives in Chestertown and all our major employers are there.Washington College, our larg- est by number of employees, has done a lot of major projects and continues to build. Gillespie Precast, Dixon Specialty Products, and LaMotte Chemical have also expanded their facilities and workforce. “Dixon Valve & Coupling is locating their new warehouse distribution facility on an 82-acre parcel of land. KRM Development and KRM Construction just completed the first building,which is 188,000 square feet, four acres under roof. They’re scheduled to break ground soon on the second of four build- ings that are being built to meet the needs of Dixon. The project is called the Business Campus which also includes six apartment buildings (pre-approved by the town) and speculative space to attract other businesses Kent County.” BVM: Is environmental sustainability a concern for Kent County? Moredock: Yes.The county has a Watershed Im- provement Plan in place and several initiatives fall under that, in terms of environmental protection measures,water resource protection, habitat pro- tection areas, stormwater management, agricultural best management practice review; all those areas are addressed and reported back to the state in various forms. In recent years,we’ve seen a push to open up our agricultural zoning to renewable ener- gy systems.The county has been pressured to allow utility-scale solar systems in its agricultural zoning district–which is strictly prohibited. “Having convened a Renewable EnergyTask Force, the County Commissioners adopted zoning text amendments to allow for renewable energy provi- sions in certain zoning districts, but the county did take a stand–finding that utility-scale renewable energy is an industrial use and not compatible with our agricultural industry or the agricultural zoning district.There’s a lack of understanding by large SERVING DELMARVA’S FREIGHT RAIL NEEDS FOR OVER 40 YEARS THE MARYLAND AND DELAWARE RAILROAD COMPANY www.mdde.com 410-754-5735 PREFERRED VENDORS n Maryland & Delaware Railroad Company www.mdde.com KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND solar companies that open land in an agricultural community is an important part of that industry.” Williams: The county already has more [residential] solar per capita than any county in Maryland, so we’re not against it.We just want it strategically placed in the right location. It all comes down to protecting the rural gem that is Kent County.” n Kent County Economic Development www.kentcounty.com/business Kent County Economic Development promotes activities that enhance the business community, the services, and income oppor- tunities available to residents, as well as the social well-being and quality of life for all communitymembers. Leveraging digital infra- structure to retain and expand existing businesses and increase their competitiveness and attract new businesses.