Deals with community part of cost of doing business

Though the idea of developers opening their wallets to win over community groups appears to be a new trend in Crofton and west county, such deals have a long history. Some examples:

Chesapeake Terrace landfill

The players: Greater Crofton Council, Greater Odenton Improvement Association and National Waste Managers, a subsidiary of the Halle Cos.

The project: Proposed rubble landfill in the Forks of the Patuxent community in south Odenton.

The promise: Build a high school and lease it back to the county, turn the closed landfill into a park, pay up to $750,000 a year into a community fund, make the landfill...