Capitoline Center Phase 2 Construction Begins — 2026-07-08

Today's forecast: scattered rain showers then mostly cloudy, high near 82 degrees.

Good morning. Wednesday, July 8. Phase 2 construction is underway at The Capitoline Center — Calvin Ball marked it with a ceremonial wall breaking. Maryland lawmakers are headed back to Annapolis in August for a special session on congressional redistricting. And the county is holding a public meeting on the Dayton stormwater pond repair project. This is your morning brief for Howard County.

County Executive Calvin Ball marked the start of Phase 2 construction on The Capitoline Center with a ceremonial wall breaking. The center opened its first phase in March as the county's hub for arts, culture, and history. Phase 2 expands the facility — scope and timeline details are in the county release from July 7 at howardcountymd.gov. The project keeps building out one of the county's newest public venues months after its debut.

Maryland lawmakers return to Annapolis in August for a special session on midcycle congressional redistricting. Senate President Ferguson and House Speaker Peña-Melnyk announced the session Tuesday. Republican lawmakers criticized it as driven by national politics. Any new congressional map could redraw the lines that run through Howard County. Maryland Matters has the full report.

Columbia Association's Lakefront Live free summer series is running at the new CA Lakefront Stage in Downtown Columbia. The permanent stage opened in May, replacing the temporary canopy that hosted performances for years. The series draws more than fifty thousand visitors to the Lakefront each season. The 2026 lineup is posted at columbiaassociation.org.

Howard County is holding a public meeting on the Dayton stormwater pond repair project — time, venue, and project details are in the Patch report; if you live near the pond, this is your chance to weigh in. Today at the library: 3, 2, Fun for ages two to three at Elkridge, nine thirty and ten thirty. Time For Us at Savage at ten. Play Partners for infants at East Columbia at ten thirty, followed by Baby's Play Date at eleven.

Also today. Howard County's data center moratorium is inching closer to reality — and next door, the Prince George's County Council just passed a two-year moratorium on hyperscale data center development, giving that county time to work out its long-term approach. On the market: a new listing at 9097 Phillip Dorsey Way in Columbia, zip two-one-oh-four-five, on Realtor.com. WBAL's forecast desk calls for quiet weather midweek before storm chances increase again. Blandair Regional Park opened Phase 6 last month — the latest expansion of the Columbia park. Ellicott City's flood mitigation tunnel construction kicks off this summer. The Baltimore Banner reports the county wants to sell some of the historic Ellicott City buildings it bought for flood mitigation. The county officially announced the site for High School 14 in June — the Elkridge school project's next milestone. USAFacts published a breakdown of how many subsidized housing units are available in Howard County. Calvin Ball's age-friendly legislation expands the Senior Tax Credit and extends the Aging in Place tax credit — worth a look for older homeowners. And in Old Ellicott City, Lucky Lane Interiors has been open on Main Street since its Saint Patrick's Day debut this spring.

Here's what I'm watching. The August redistricting session is the sleeper story — a midcycle redraw of Maryland's congressional map could shift which district your street sits in, and Howard County has been split before. Closer to home, the data-center question is coming to a head: PG County just hit pause for two years, and our own moratorium is moving. How the region handles that buildout — power, water, land — is the next big land-use fight. And Phase 2 at the Capitoline Center means the county is still investing in arts space. Back tomorrow.

That's today's brief. Full edition at hocobrief.com — newsletter, archive, send tips. I'm at the desk. See you tomorrow morning.