2025 Cascade Update

Geraldine Otremba, Cascade Resident, on Behalf of the Committee to Protect Our Mountain

Cascade Residents Demand a Hearing

The Committee to Protect Our Mountain from Dollar General hosted a community meeting on Sunday, November 16, at the Fort Ritchie Secret Tap Room.

The committee’s attorney, Michele Rosenfeld, summarized the three-year effort to protect Cascade’s Rural Village Zoning from construction of a proposed Dollar General Market, immediately adjacent to historic Fort Ritchie. In 2022, Outdoor Contractors Inc. requested a special exception to Cascade’s zoning, which was twice approved by the Washington County Zoning Board. Appeals to the County Circuit Court twice remanded the case to the Zoning Board. Both sides appealed the Circuit Court Decision, which will be heard at the Maryland Appellate Court in February 2026.

Attorney Rosenfeld introduced Danielle Eyler Durning, Cascade resident and property owner most immediately adjacent to the proposed development site. Ms. Durning was the first Cascade opposition voice and summarized her multiple efforts to contact the Washington County Commissioners, including a proposed Zoning Technical Amendment (ZTA) that would clarify Cascade’s Rural Village Zoning and protect her family’s adjacent property from the certainty of reduced property value if the Dollar General Market is approved. The ZTA would prohibit small box stores within 1,000 feet of historic sites, such as Fort Ritchie. If adopted, the ZTA would obviate the need for the 2026 Appellate Court hearing.

Ms. Durning recounted her multiple efforts to communicate with the county commissioners and county administrator, resulting in no acknowledgement or reply. Ms. Durning and Attorney Rosenfeld then asked the attendees at the meeting for their help in pressing for a full hearing on the requested ZTA. The response from the attendees was overwhelmingly supportive; every briefing and community meeting—spanning over three years—have only fortified the community’s commitment to protect Cascade’s citizens, businesses, rural values, and economic revival at Fort Ritchie, adding over 200 jobs since 2021. These voices will join the 500-plus residents who have already signed the Committee’s petition to enforce Cascade’s Rural Village zoning, without exceptions.

Multiple strategies and initiatives were offered: concerted communication with the county commissioners, multiple media outreach, and consultation with other historic communities in Washington County. The unifying factor was demanding a public hearing on the merits of the issue, not total unresponsive silence to citizens asking to be heard.

Updates and further information on how to support the fight to Stop Dollar General may be found on Facebook: Stop Dollar General in Cascade, Maryland.