WUDAC: Community Benefits Agreement Bill 'Will Foster Distrust'

Debate continues over Bill 33-11, which would require large retail stores in the county to sign a community benefits agreement with three or more recognized community organizations--or demonstrate that they had made a good faith effort toward this goal.

, the Wheaton Urban District Advisory Committee voted to send a letter to the Montgomery County Council, expressing the committee’s reservations about the bill and its recommendations for change.

“It is our collective opinion that Bill 33-11 regarding Community Benefits Agreements (CBA) is untenable in its current form, and does not adequately balance business and community interests,” the letter reads.

The letter’s three main points are as follows:

• “Bill 33-11 will foster distrust and promote hesitation in the business community.” 
• “The text of Bill 33-11 is vague and provides unclear authority to the County Executive.”
• “Bill 33-11 is too broad regarding the types of civic organizations eligible to negotiate with developers.”

Devala Janardan, the chair of the WUDAC subcommittee that drafted the letter, voted against it. After the meeting, he said that the letter could have been more specific, and that the committee could have looked at the text of the bill more closely in order to craft more careful language.

The bill has seen and . No other meeting has been scheduled yet, and no one is sure when the bill will reach the full council--or what form the bill will take.

Adam Fogel, chief of staff for Council Vice President Nancy Navarro, attended the WUDAC meeting, seeking to answer questions about the bill and explain why Navarro is a co-sponsor.

He said that Navarro “strongly believes in the concept that the community needs to be involved when these big-box stores come in,” but that there could be alternate routes to the CBA bill in achieving this.

One of those routes might be altering the language in an existing zoning text amendment so that it would apply to retail stores of 75,000 feet or more, which is the size referenced in the CBA bill. A 2004 amendment to the Montgomery County Zoning Ordinance, ZTA 04-04, requires retail stores (mixed grocery and non-grocery) over 120,000 feet to obtain a special exception. A club or membership store, such as Costco, is exempt. 

Critics of the CBA bill have questioned its legality, among other reasons because it would apply to stores that have not received any financial support from the county. But if the CBA bill were rewritten to apply only to those stores that receive county funds (such as the $4 million grant to Westfield for the new Costco), big-box stores like Wal-Mart would likely not be affected.