Updated June 4, 4:25 p.m.
Montgomery County doesn’t need another zoning regulation prohibiting Costco from building a gas station in Wheaton, county planning staff said in a new report.
The report rejects the County Council’s propsed zoning regulation that would require gas stations that sell more than 3.6 million gallons of gasoline per year be located at least 1,000 feet from any school, park, playground, hospital “or other public use or any use categorized as a cultural, entertainment and recreation use.”
The regulation is aimed largely at Costco, which plans to build a gas station next to the Westfield Wheaton mall. Lawmakers have expressed concerns that the gas station would pose a health risk to neighboring residential areas and a community pool.
Planning Department staff argue that the existing zoning requirements — that the gas station be approved by a special exception, the process for which includes opportunities for community members to air their concerns — are more than sufficient to address any potential issues.
But the special exception process is aimed more at whether the gas station is surrounded by tall shrubs or how big the driveway is, not whether or not the gas station can be built at all, said Councilman Marc Elrich, D-at large, the sponsor of the zoning regulation.
“It’s not like Westfield couldn’t solve this problem if they wanted to. The just don’t care,” he said. “They want to use the most worthless piece of their property to dump a problem on the neighborhood.”
If the council moves forward with the regulation, though, the staff recommend changing the 1,000 feet in the regulation to 300 feet.
