Days before Costco's scheduled community open house, where the major retailer hopes to convince local residents to support its plans for a 16-pump gas station in Wheaton, Montgomery County Planning Department staff issued a recommendation against the gas station.
The proposed gas station would be located at Westfield Wheaton, where the Costco store is scheduled to open April 10.
In its report, planning department staff conclude that Costco's "analyses and assertion of no adverse health impacts is based on insufficient information, and may have understated the exposure of the adjacent population to some of the toxics."
For the full report, see the Planning Department website or the PDF attached to this article.
Costco "has failed to meet the burden of proof to demonstrate that the proposed use will not adversely impact the health of the residents, and visitors within the neighborhood as required," planning staff wrote.
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The county Planning Board is scheduled to review Costco's special exception application on Feb. 28 and make a recommendation to the Office of Zoning and Administrative Hearings.
See the Planning Board agenda for more information about how to participate in the meeting.
Costco's application is scheduled to come before a hearing examiner on March 11, 15, 18, and 22 at 9:30 a.m. in the Stella B. Werner Council Office Building, Second Floor Davidson Memorial Hearing Room, at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville. The hearing examiner will submit a recommendation to the Board of Appeals for Montgomery County, which will make the final decision.
For more background on the Costco gas station, read the topics page on Wheaton Patch.
The planning department staff report noted the combination of the Costco gas station's size (it will dispense an estimated 12 million gallons per year), its location along a private road ringing the mall property and the anticipated queuing of cars as "cause for concern."
Costco's open house is scheduled for 7-9 p.m. Wednesday at Newport Mill Middle School, 11311 Newport Mill Road, in Kensington. Gas station opponents have objected to the format, saying they would have rather had a town hall-style meeting where questions and answers could be heard by all in attendance.
The Stop Costco Gas Coalition continues to oppose the gas station plans, citing health and environmental concerns, particularly because the gas station would be near the Stephen Knolls School for children with special needs. The coalition has uploaded Costco's special exception filings to its website, along with the group's responses and letters in opposition.
Will you be going to the Wednesday open house? What do you think of the Planning Department staff's negative report? Tell us in the comments.
that the county has altered the traffic pattern on Reedie Drive for "pedestrian safety" as well as the other entrance - exit changes made over the years. Now lets hope the county council doesn't overrule the people again and go with this. I am sure all the little guys (Spaids Sunoco, Freestate, etc) will be happy with this as well.
If you have any doubts about what we are facing, just look at the images uploaded above. Pictures don't lie. If you think the idea of 60 cars idling at once is ridiculous, then so is the whole Costco plan, because we are using their numbers! Check out more details at www.stopcostcogas.org
As I stated, I've been to many Costco's with gas stations from down in NC through PA and never saw the lines that you reference. Not to say that those lines like you speak of don't exist, because i'm sure at certain points of the year (i.e., seasonal/holiday) and certain times of the day (i.e., evening or weekend traffic) that there are stations in the US that the lines occur at. I can't speak for the Beltsville location as I've never been there, but i have been to at least 5 others along the East Coast. As someone with a background in research there are two things I know wholeheartedly 1) statistics can be twisted to support ANY position (good and bad) and 2) pictures dont tell the whole picture as they are a snapshot in a moment in time rather than a fluid event. Regardless, i've followed the whole situation as I am a resident of Wheaton that lives within walking distance to downtown. I laud the effort KH has put up, I'm just saying the County just needs to step up and either approve it or deny it once and for all as this situation has gone on too long.
Here's my info: There were a total of 50 cars (plus or minus 2 or 3) on this generally gray, non-holiday Saturday morning. There are 8 lanes, and each had at least 6 cars at various times, including the cars at the pumps. So there were 4 or 5 cars continuously behind the 2 pumping cars for a total of probably 45-55 cars at any time. I happened to end up in the slowest lane (behind a couple minivans and trucks that must have been near empty) and it took me 12 minutes before I started pumping. As for price, the gas was 18 cents cheaper per gallon than one local gas station and 14 cents cheaper than another. I don't know whether there are residences nearby.
As for pricing, the Free State is already pretty cheap, so Costco would have to make it worthwhile for local customers to buy at Costco with a wait instead of going to a local station with less of a wait.
Ive seen enough cars at Freestate to back up onto Viers Mill on a regular basis. I would guess that it was close to 40-50 based on the number of pumps and how big their lot is. My point is you only care about the impacts of this one qas station, not the Wheaton neighborhood as a whole. Because if you did, you would be trying to shut down both the Freestate and the Sunoco on Viers Mill as well. While I do think your cause has some merit, your hysterical NIMBYism detracts from your cause.