Montgomery County to Hold Town Meeting for Wheaton Nov. 2

As Wal-Mart make inroads in Aspen Hill and on Rockville Pike, concerns rise that without community benefits agreements in place, big-box stores will bring more harm than help to Montgomery County.

To produce a community benefits agreement, a developer would sit down with the community to hash out each side’s expectations for how the new business will help the local area.

But as the Montgomery County Council prepares to discuss a bill tomorrow that requires these community benefits agreements, the controversy has halted construction on the Costco in Westfield, the Washington Post reported October 30.

Residents will have a chance to express their opinions about big-box redevelopment to members of the Montgomery County Council at a Town Hall Meeting at on November 2.

This is the fifth town hall meeting of the year, but the first one that will specifically address issues in Wheaton and the northern Silver Spring area.

The meeting begins at 8 p.m., but a more informal reception will begin at 7:30 p.m.

Topics for conversation:

• The future of the
• Traffic
• Schools
• Crime
• The proposed curfew for Montgomery County youth, 17 and younger
• Redevelopment of the Wheaton Business District and along Georgia Avenue
• Big-box stores coming to the area, such as the Costco in and the Wal-Mart in Aspen Hill
• Post-storm performance by power utilities, such as Pepco

The county will later air the taped broadcast on County Cable Montgomery.