A Web of Waivers and Exemptions Threatens Wheaton's Green Forested Buffer
Even though the County Council adopted language specifically protecting Wheaton's Green Forested Buffer when it approved the Wheaton Sector Plan last November, this forest remains in jeopardy.
Trees within this buffer protect adjacent neighborhoods from Westfield's Wheaton Mall, but the County government insists on allowing the trees to be cut down by Westfield and Costco for any reason, at any time, under the web of waivers and exemptions that the County departments have woven for Westfield. Our coalition is doing everything in our power to save this five-acre wooded treasure, the last significant forest in the Wheaton Sector Plan area. We are clearing away this cobweb to reveal that there is no basis for the waivers and exemptions, and to insist on full enforcement of our environmental laws.
Our County's Forest Conservation Law (FCL) applies to development projects that meet certain criteria, and that involve impacts to certain natural features. One such natural feature that triggers the Forest Conservation Law is the presence of a stream on the site.
The FCL requires that developers who plan to cut down or damage trees next to a stream must submit a Forest Conservation Plan (FCP) to the Montgomery County Planning Department. A Forest Conservation Plan is a detailed map and text that shows the location and fate of each large mature tree, the extent of the planned construction activity that could destroy or damage certain trees, the exact location of the trees and forest areas that will be saved and the method for saving them.
A stream does in fact exist in the forested buffer - it's the headwaters of Silver Creek, but the Planning Department is refusing to delineate the stream buffer and to require Westfield to file an FCP. Silver Creek is acknowledged in the new Wheaton Sector Plan, and by the Department of Permitting Services (DPS), which issued a sediment plan and stormwater waiver to the Costco Mall project. Last December, even Westfield's own engineers delineated the stream buffer on their Stormwater Concept Plan for the Costco gas station.
Westfield plans to discharge stormwater runoff for the entire Costco Mall Addition development project into the heart of the forest. This requires destroying and damaging trees to construct a stormwater conveyance system that will empty into Silver Creek, Kensington Branch, Rock Creek, Potomac and the Chesapeake Bay. Without an approved FCP, this construction could proceed unfettered without any oversight, essentially destroying the remaining forest's heart.
The Westfield-Costco Mall Addition is now under active construction, and the bulldozers are getting closer. Audubon Naturalist Society and its partners have asked Planning Director Rollin Stanley to require Westfield to prepare a Forest Conservation Plan for this project. Download 1.13.12 Letter to Rollin Stanley requesting Administrative Review of FCP Exemption 42011026E. We've asked Rick Brush of DPS to revoke the Sediment Control Plan waiver his Department reportedly issued for this project, and to require Westfield to submit a full-fledged Sediment Control Plan. We just don't understand why Montgomery County has woven this web of waivers and exemptions for Westfield and Costco, when doing so jeopardizes the last remaining forest and headwater streams in the Wheaton Sector Plan area -- natural resources that the County Council required to be specifically protected less than two months ago.
Danila Sheveiko
1:35 pm on Monday, January 23, 2012
Westfield/Costco also got a grandfathered loophole waiver for Environmental Site Design, so there will be no green roofs, green walls, rain gardens or other vegetated stormwater management devices that improve the quality of our water, air and life. The project also does not require a Site Plan, or a traffic study, or a Noise Suppression Plan, or a Temporary Noise Waiver, or a... you get the idea.
GinWheaton
2:18 pm on Monday, January 23, 2012
This is the type of NIMBY garbage that makes it so hard to do business in this county and ends up hurting us all. For what? A couple of trees surrounding a mall? Give me a break, if you want woods go to Wheaton Regional Park. I for one hope you have no success in delaying this project (because we all know that is your end goal).
MocoLoco
3:45 pm on Monday, January 23, 2012
Yes, GinWheaton, because that is the answer when we are down to our last trees--give up and tell people to go visit them in a park. Forget about wild animals too--go find them in the zoo. Don't stand in the way of progress!! (And, by progress, we mean keeping the county from "losing face" when it comes to its "deal" with Costco.) Never mind that Silver Creek often floods its banks and adjacent homes on its way to Rock Creek and the Potomac. All for a couple "stupid" trees, right GinWheaton?
GinWheaton
4:56 pm on Monday, January 23, 2012
MocoLoco - when those trees are a small cosmetic ring around a major regional mall that is poised to add both new jobs and new shopping opporturnities for current residents, I say cut them all down. Looks like the NIMBY's who didn't want Costco there in the first place are comming out of the proverbial woodwork now that their original plan to use the proposed gas station to scuttle the entire development didn't work. And yes Mocoloco, if I want to see wild animals whilst living in an urban environment I will go to our zoo. If I wanted to see them out my window I'd move to West Virginia.
Danila Sheveiko
4:57 pm on Monday, January 23, 2012
GinWheaton, please check your facts - the community has always supported Westfield's economic success, was never against the Costco project, was never against the $4 million subsidy from the County, and has repeatedly compromised on the traffic, and on the noise, and on the air pollution, only to be railroaded on almost every issue. Check out the uploaded graphic - do you really think it such a good idea to place the busiest fueling operation in the entire County right next to single-family residences? Next time, before demeaning people, along with your facts, please check your definition of NIMBY.
GinWheaton
5:09 pm on Monday, January 23, 2012
Danila - Look up NIMBY? As in "Not in My Backyard?" Aren't those opposing the gas station is pretty much the textbook definition of the acronym? Like it or not, the definition is spot on.
As a Wheaton resident who will directly benefit from both the cheaper gas and the increased property values this development will bring, yes, I really do think it's a good idea to place the station there. In fact I think the location is pretty perfect, and let's hope the County finally gets around to approving the special exemption!
Danila Sheveiko
5:22 pm on Monday, January 23, 2012
GinWheaton, you obviously misunderstand the definition of NIMBY. The key word is "Mine", meaning it is OK to put it in someone else's yard. The busiest gas station in the entire County simply should not be in anyone's back yard. On a more general note, do you place any limits on your desire for the cheapest gasoline possible? How far is too far? How close is too close? Studies show that our health risk will go up 20-fold. Can't you find some empathy for that?
MocoLoco
5:29 pm on Monday, January 23, 2012
This is the problem with $4/gal gasoline. It turns people into crazies. Must find cheap gas! Interestingly, if you go to Beltsville, you will find that buying gas at Costco only saves you a couple cents a gallon. Yet, the crazies wait in long lines to fill up, saving, maybe $0.32 on a fill-up of 16 gallons. Woo-hoo. Cut those effin' trees down, baby!
Elizabeth Chaisson
9:45 am on Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Hmmm....maybe it's time to come together on this issue so we can all "have our cake and eat it too."
Costco has already been approved so the County government should NOT go back on its approvals and require a Forest Conservation Plan or anything else that has already been waived. That would be bad business and the fighting isn't helping.
From here forward, Costco should be expected to not remove any trees in the County APPROVED forest buffer. If trees are damaged or destroyed during the redevelopment process, the County should require replacement....and not just one for one if the destroyed trees are large in size.
As a customer of the Wheaton Mall, I would appreciate MORE trees in the parking lots so it is not so hot in the summer. Right now its a sea of asphalt that is heating up downtown Wheaton (considered 100% impervious to water.) The regional park is too far away to "cool off" downtown Wheaton. GinWheaton may find trees unnecessary, but the rest of us value them for improving the air and water quality in our neighborhoods. Without them, our local air and water would be a lot more polluted than it already is! We have plenty of cities in the area-- D.C., downtown Rockville, Frederick, etc. Even those have some wild animals-- squirrels for one. What we could use are some more towns in the area....downTown Wheaton would be a nice unique, compromise for the fighting factions in our diverse community and different from Bethesda and Silver Spring!
Andrea
4:06 pm on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
The Natural Resource Inventory and Forest Conservation Plan process would not stop the project. It would only hold the project accountable to minimum standards for forest conservation, which is a state law. Revoking the exemption and requiring a forest conservation plan would ensure the preservation of the trees within the buffer zone. This has always been a goal of the County. As it stands now, impacts to trees that REQUIRE protection are not in place because the inventory is incomplete and was not field verified by the county (approved plan shows field verification waived by the reviewer!!!)
Revocation of the waiver would also require the Costco project to plant additional trees in order to comply with today's minimum state and county standards. These trees would most likely end up in the parking lot as something the planning board refers to as 'Canopy Cover', which counts toward forest conservation credit.
It is not unreasonable to me to require companies like Costco and Westfield to spend some money on parking lot trees, just like every other redevelopment project does. This request for forest conservation is not some extra effort being imposed on Costco and Westfield. It is a standard requirement that Costco and Westfield are somehow avoiding, with the County's help.
Lets do this right and according to State and County law.
Kathleen Michels
10:55 am on Saturday, January 28, 2012
There is a growing body of urban planning research showing the value of trees in urban and retail areas economically . There is no question that the presence , addition and preservation of trees is a win win for business and community. Let's talk facts. Wheaton deserves healthy economic development. Trashing Wheaton will not help . And btw throwing the nimby term at anyone who wants a healthier community is wrong and counterproductive. Wheaton plaza is not in my backyard but I am in Wheaton. And just because some do not value trees does not mean they are not valuable.