Fort Ritchie Developer Trims Spending At Md. Site

CASCADE, Md. (AP) -- The company planning to redevelop the former Fort Ritchie Army base in western Maryland says it's trimming its spending there because the project has been stalled by litigation.

A spokeswoman for Columbia-based Corporate Office Properties Trust told The (Hagerstown) Herald-Mail Thursday that it's cutting six grounds-maintenance jobs and ending its financial support for a community center at the mountaintop property in Cascade.

The company says it's not abandoning plans to build hundreds of homes and an office park for federal agencies and contractors on the site.

Construction has been stalled by a citizen lawsuit over the project's environmental impact.

In April, the company said it doesn't expect to recover its $28 million investment after the military revealed it tested Agent Orange and other tactical herbicides at Fort Ritchie decades ago.

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