Despite Loss of Tax Revenue, Washington County Plans $1.47 Million in Capital Improvements to Wright Road, Location of ICE Warehouse

Documents included in the February 24, 2026 presentation for the County Commissioners meeting show approximately $1.47 million in projected capital improvements to Wright Road over the next two years. Despite the annual reduction in property tax revenue of over $700,000 per year associated with that road due to Federal acquisition of the warehouse at 16220 Wright Road near Williamsport, the County appears to be proceeding with plans to continue with improvements to that road, according to draft budget documents.

FY27 Operating and Capital Budgets Presentation, Scheduled for February 24, 2026.

The plans for improvement of Wright Road have been part of county Capital Improvement plans for several years, and to date the county has spent approximately $3.3 million in improvements on that road. The FY26 budget presentation showed a total commitment of approximately $4.8 million, an amount which has not decreased with the FY27 budget.

These improvements are only focused on roadway improvements, and do not include any required capacity upgrades which will be required for sewer capacity in order for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to convert the warehouse into a processing facility holding up to 1,500 detainees. While it is believed that these improvements were originally being undertaken to improve the road for freight transportation through tractor trailers, the road will now likely be accommodating buses and other transportation associated with the ICE processing facility. Wright Road is only approximately 1/2 mile long, and the only major facility currently built on the road is the warehouse purchased by DHS in January, 2026. Washington County Government was notified of the potential sale on January 14, 2026, but did not release a statement until January 28, 2026.

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Improvements at Wright Road have included the relocation of the roadway and culvert improvements. Improvements appear to have been originally funded through Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) grants in FY2020. It is unknown if the change in use of the warehouse affects the grant funding status.

The ARC grant funding is designed to drive regional growth through two distinct investment categories administered by the Tri-County Council for Western Maryland. The first category, Area Development, is geared toward supporting projects from municipalities, educational agencies, healthcare providers, and non-profits, requiring a 50/50 funding match from the applicants. The second category, Local Access Road projects (funded via TEA-21), is specifically dedicated to transportation infrastructure and is unique because it requires no local funding match. Collectively, these grants are intended to reduce the financial burden on local governments like Washington County for essential infrastructure while fostering community development across the Allegany, Garrett, and Washington county regions. Local Access Road funding appears to have been requested for the first two million of the Wright Road extension project.

Unfortunately, due to what we can only describe as an obstructionist approach to news media inquiries on behalf of the County, we have no means of verifying with the County in a timely manner if the road still qualifies for ARC grant funding, and if not how the county plans to pay for these improvements despite the significant loss of tax revenue associated with the property being purchased by the Federal Government, so we must base this reporting solely on publicly available information.

In addition to local water/sewer infrastructure concerns, the Maryland Attorney General has filed a lawsuit, with one of the key concerns being environmental impacts of the facility.

Washington County Government has consistently referred our media comment requests to the Maryland Public Information Act request process, which takes typically 30 days for response and is unsuitable for news media coverage. Therefore Radio Free Hub City will not request comment from Washington County Government regarding this or any future stories until this approach from the County has changed. We have also refused any phone conversations with Washington County Government or elected officials, and henceforth require all comments be submitted electronically via email, which is in line with the County’s current policy of only accepting resident comments via email. We will happily publish any submitted written comments on behalf of the county should the county decide to submit them.

The County’s official resolution supporting ICE can be found here. All of our documents related to the facility are available in our document repository, below.

Article by Ken Buckler based upon information from the February 24, 2026 BOCC budget presentation, and previous coverage.

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