April 19, 2024

Airport Plan Revealed Sept. 30

The plan for an Airport Innovation District surrounding the St. Mary’s County Regional Airport will be displayed  Monday evening, September 30, 2019, 6:30 to 8 pm, at the University System of Maryland at Southern Maryland (Building 1, Multipurpose room), 44129 Airport Road, California, MD 20619.

The plan seeks to expand the work-live-play-learn environment established in California, MD, by its next-door neighborhood Wildewood, a premier Southern Maryland planned community.

The master plan for the Airport Innovation District is being developed by Torti Gallas & Partners from Silver Springs, MD. The plan will be presented Sept. 30, and display stations available for attendees to review and ask questions.
 Register here. Learn more about the innovation district here.

St Mary’s County designated the area an “Innovation District” and launched a Master Plan to attract research and technology business growth to the regional airport’s expanding campus. Facilities sought to incorporate into this Airport Innovation District include:

  • Places to start and grow companies (incubators, accelerators, manufacturing, fabrication, assembly)
  • Places to invent/innovate (labs, workshops, maker-spaces, technical support)
  • Places to gather and exchange ideas
  • Circulation routes for various modes (walking/biking/auto/transit)
  • Places to live
  • Places to eat, shop, get personal services, drink, lodging
  • Anchor companies
  • Places to learn

The growth of the campus of the St. Mary’s County Regional Airport expands the amenities offered in Wildewood, St. Mary’s premier live-work-play community. The Wildewood Shopping Center and its campus of business and technology employment hubs border the innovative airport campus. Wildewood’s commercial, educational, and recreational facilities are connected to a full-range of residential options in a wooded setting.

In recent years, St. Mary’s County and the state of Maryland worked to blend academic and high-tech pursuits at the regional airport, including the addition of a UAS Test Site operated by the University of Maryland on the airport campus. The Airport Innovation District incorporates the University System of Maryland at Southern Maryland, located on Airport Road, between Wildewood’s business and technology office parks and the airport terminal.

Many of these components have been coming together as S. Hunt Aero began constructing the hangars, taxiways, and the county’s ultimate runway extension that has been long anticipated in St. Mary’s County’s airport master plans.

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