Westfield Applies for Parking Waiver

Westfield Wheaton seeks a parking waiver from Montgomery County that would allow for fewer parking spaces in the shopping center’s parking lots, citing in its application an “overabundance of parking at the regional mall.”

The hearing is set for Dec. 6 at 10:00 a.m. at the Department of Permitting Services, 255 Rockville Pike, on the second floor, in the Seneca conference room.

The county’s current parking standards for Westfield call for a parking ratio of 4.2 spaces per 1,000 square feet of retail development during the business day and 4.5 spaces at other times. Westfield wants to reduce that to 4.0 spaces.

Westfield is basing the request for a parking waiver on its experience managing regional malls and the results of two parking usage studies from 2010 and 2011, which it submitted with its application.

“The creation of additional surface parking or parking structures when no demand exists is wasteful,” Westfield representatives wrote in the application.

Ten years ago, the Department of Permitting Services granted Westfield Wheaton a waiver from the County Zoning Ordiance’s requirement of 5.5 parking spaces per 1,000 square feet.

Westfield said in its application that it anticipates adding 54,000 square feet with the construction of the new Costco.