Why are warehouses being built where they are in the Hagerstown area? Here's why.

Let me start off by saying that I'm not a fan of warehouses.

They have all the visual appeal of a sump pump, coupled with the warmth of, well, a sump pump.

With that said, I also realize that they're a necessary evil if we want to maintain the good unemployment figures we have on either side of the Mason-Dixon Line along Interstate 81.

More people working means more families having the money to meet basic needs, which leads to less fear that you won't have a roof or food, which leads to lower crime, higher test scores and better neighborhoods. In theory. (Look up Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs for more details on how it all works.)

Related: Court appeal keeps idea of county truck stop ban alive

Anyway, with court action related to a ban on truck stops and control of warehouse sizes in the news last week, I figured now would be a good time for a quick explainer on why there's a big proliferation of warehouses in this region, particularly around Hagerstown.

And, believe it or not, there's a reason that it seems like these warehouses are "eating up all the farmland," and it has to do with planning put in place about a decade ago.

First, why build these behemoths of capitalism in Washington County?

The answers are simple.

By locating near the intersection of Interstates 81 and 70, retailers can reach a third of the United States' population within a day's drive.

As an industrial developer with NorthPoint Development, which built the million-square-foot Amazon warehouse on Wesel Boulevard and others in the area, told Site Selection Magazine in September 2022: “The I-95 corridor has been developed. The I-81 corridor is more accessible than I-95, and Hagerstown is a really great location.”

Another reason is the available land.

I know, farms should not be considered "available land" since we rely on them for food and feed. But there is a significant amount of open land along the interstates and their major arteries. And that open land can accommodate a structure of 1 million square feet or more, in a lot of cases.

Related: Washington County OKs preservation of nearly 700 farmland acres; more wanted

(I'm not going to get into matters of historical preservation or maintaining infrastructure or public services. Those are things for which developers should be held to account, and local zoning and planning officials shouldn't give an inch without major concessions. But I digress.)

Anyway, the wide open spaces along the highways and immediate byways were almost always meant to become a commercial structure of some sort. The zoning has been in place for some time.

But take a look at the country roads a few minutes' drive away from the on-ramps.

Washington County Commissioners over the years have spent a significant amount of taxpayer money (mostly through tax credits) to encourage local farmers to keep their land in agriculture and not sell it to a developer.

Last year, county planners showed the Board of Commissioners a heat map of where development had taken place over the previous 10 years, along with the amount of preserved acreage.

Related: Proposal could ban truck stop construction, require more review for large warehouses

The red zones showed development mostly — though not completely — along the interstate corridors, while the green zones showed preserved farms in the county's already rural areas. If you want more detail, you can go to Washington County's website, hover over Services, then click GIS maps.

The last reason the warehouses keep locating here: the labor force.

Generally speaking, we have a solid crop of workers capable of performing the duties and tasks associated with moving products from one place to another. That includes logistics companies and truck drivers.

And the pay associated with those jobs is typically better than the minimum wage in Maryland and the surrounding states. In a few cases, a lot better.

Washington County's seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate in March, the most recent month for which data is available, was 2.7%. The average for Maryland is 2.3%, and a few counties, like Carroll and Howard, had less than 2%. But the national unemployment rate was 3.5%. Statistically, many residents here are working.

So, with all of the populations and acres and percentages, you can see logically — if not emotionally — why developers are doing what they're doing. Washington County is a victim of its own success.

The question is: Do we embrace that success and ride the wave like our forefathers did with the National Road and the railroads, or do we fight against it, remembering all the vacant industrial buildings scattered around the Hub City and its neighbors?

Honestly, I don't know the answer. That's for us as a community to figure out.

But at least you know why certain things are happening the way they are.

Joseph Deinlein is the executive editor of The Herald-Mail.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Location, space, workers make Washington County prime for warehouses