Cascade Update

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

The Washington County Planning Commission held a public hearing on Monday, April 6, at 6:00 p.m. on a proposed Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) that would prohibit small box variety stores in the County’s Rural Village zone within 1,000 feet of a property of historic significance, filed by County resident Danielle Eyler Durning.

Durning filed the ZTA after the Washington County Circuit Court twice ruled that the county’s board of appeals had twice improperly approved a Dollar General Mart just outside of historic Fort Ritchie’s Gate 2 on McAfee Hill Road.

“This ZTA is needed to clarify that a cookie-cutter box store is not consistent with the Rural Zone’s purpose of protecting the unique rural or historic character of the County’s Rural Villages,” said Michele Rosenfeld, who has represented Durning and others in two board of appeals hearings and three court cases, including one now pending in the Maryland Appellate Court, with a decision expected in the next several months.

During the planning commission hearing, planning staff recommended against adoption of the ZTA, arguing that it would inhibit new small box stores throughout the county, inhibiting economic development and limiting access to shopping in rural areas.

ZTA supporters disagreed. The ZTA application described it as “narrowly written” to implement the purpose of the Rural Village zone and still allow these stores in the vast majority of the county that is not zoned Rural Village.

Impassioned testimony from 14 witnesses stressed the rural character of Cascade, the need to protect the historic character and revitalization efforts underway at Fort Ritchie, the economic and tourism boost from the Ritchie Revival, the generations of families who have made Cascade their home precisely because of its unique rural and historic character, and the financial and economic damage that would follow in the wake of box store development.

John Krumpotich, owner and developer of Fort Ritchie, testified that he had turned down requests for box stores to locate at Fort Ritchie as out of character with Ritchie Revival and Cascade, instead selecting varied, small business owners with a compatible vision of Cascade’s location, history, and population.

Supporting testimony also pointed out that the newly adopted Washington County Comprehensive Plan calls for the preservation of rural character while managing economic growth.

The commissioner did not allow questions to be addressed to witnesses but did request clarification about elements of the proposed ZTA from Rosenfeld.

The commission is scheduled to deliberate the merits of the ZTA and vote on a recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) on Monday, May 6, at its 6:00 p.m. hearing.

The BOCC subsequently will schedule its own public hearing on the ZTA before voting on the application.