Activist groups in Prince George's and Charles counties are embattled with Charles County Commissioners, who voted Sept. 2 to approve a technology park near the Mattawoman Creek, fearing the site could endanger the already vulnerable waterway.

The development, called the Indian Head Science and Technology Park, would feature up to 1.3 million square feet of office space along 268 acres of land near the intersection of Bryans Road and Indian Head Highway/Route 210. The project, seven miles from the Indian Head Naval Surface Warfare Center, Charles County's largest employer, is a joint venture between the county, La Plata-based Facchina Companies and investor Corporate Office Properties Trust.

The center's supporters say it will be a boon for the local economy, bringing 1,500 high-tech jobs to Charles County, diversifying its tax property tax base and cutting commute times for local residents.

But a group of activists and community groups fear that stripping more than 260 acres of forest to build the technology center would eliminate portions of Mattawoman Creek's buffer that reduces pollutants and storm water runoff.

The creek stretches 27 miles from Brandywine through Accokeek and into Indian Head, and in April, it was listed among 10 waterways on an annual ranking of the country's most endangered rivers compiled by American Rivers, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization.

The technology center's opponents also argue that more jobs would prompt commercial and residential development along Route 210, worsening traffic as far up as Oxon Hill, and say they are alarmed that parts of the site would be used to test mild explosives, also sits within a mile of two schools and a day care center.

Charles County Commissioners said the property would be a LEED certified building with proper storm water management according to county and state guidelines and that the explosives, or energetics, testing on the site would be mild compared with testing at the base in Indian Head. Energetics are similar to the explosives used to eject jet pilots out of their seats.

"There was a small group of people who, for their own reasons, want to stop progress in Charles County," said Commissioner Gary Hodge on Sept. 3. "We found very little merit to their argument."

During an evening Charles County Commissioners meeting in La Plata on Sept. 2, a majority of the Charles County residents at the meeting who spoke were in support of the technology center, saying they were tired of commuting to the District for jobs and longed for high-paying work within the county.

"Our community needs this. Our children need this," said John McWilliams of Indian Head.

Opponents urged commissioners to focus on smart growth by moving the center's location to sites in the town of Indian Head, which they say is need of revitalization, or to Waldorf, where there are already technology parks.

"The county could hardly have chosen a more inappropriate site," said Jim Long, president of the Mattawoman Watershed Society. "Smart growth and green growth is about choosing the right site."

Bonnie Bick of Oxon Hill, who represents the Sierra Club in Southern Maryland, said that because the center would also be a test site for energetics, it also posed a safety risk to some 900 students who attend nearby schools and day care facilities.

"I feel that is very inappropriate to rezone a property that deals with energetics that's so close to two schools and a day care," she said. "This feels like a done deal right now."

Commissioners President Wayne Cooper said energetics are already used in the area, at the naval base.

He also said building the center near the Route 210 corridor could actually lessen traffic by pulling commuters to jobs closer to the county, he said, and moving it further down the highway toward the town of Indian Head would bring it closer to the creek.

"We're concerned about the Mattawoman, it's a very pristine creek," he said.

He emphasized that bringing high-quality jobs to the county has been a long-term goal for the commission.

"The county has spent years and million of dollars trying to bring jobs to the county. I think we're bringing closure for the previous commission," which had tried to achieve that.

Cooper said he hopes part of the development will be up and running by November 2010. Martin-Baker Aircraft Company Ltd., a manufacturer of ejection seats, will be the park's first tenant. The commission expects to finalize details of the plan by mid-September, Cooper said.

E-mail Joshua Garner at jgarner@gazette.net.