Regarding Bill 33-11
As many of you know, I’m also President of the Randolph Civic Association. We recently took a position against the Community Benefits Agreement legislation now before the County Council (Bill 33-11). Simply stated, the bill would force any new large retailer over 75,000sf to enter into a community benefits agreement with three recognized civic association in a five mile radius. For those of you not familiar with the legislation, you can access it here: http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/content/council/pdf/bill/2011/Packets/20111011_4.pdf
Even before bill 33-11 was presented, we discussed the idea of having a Wal-Mart near our neighborhood. Wal-Mart is the apparent target of this legislation, which is strongly supported by local labor organizations. Feelings in the neighborhood were mixed on Wal-Mart, but we saw no compelling reason to get involved, except to ensure the property was developed in a way that aligns with smart growth and transit-oriented principles. To be clear, I personally am not a proponent for Wal-Mart and some of their practices. That aside, it remains true that many residents do appreciate the lower costs they can typically find at a store like Wal-Mart. I respect their right to consumer choice and do not impose my personal opinion on them for shopping at Wal-Mart.
When 33-11 came to our attention, the community consensus was much clearer: this bill crosses a line. Like I said, we have no strong feelings for or against large retailers like Wal-Mart, but this bill is about much more than Wal-Mart. It would have a chilling effect on any large retailer considering Montgomery County as a home. When I asked for neighborhood input, the majority of emails I received conveyed negative feelings about this bill. One neighbor called it “legalized extortion”, another felt this was the County’s way of “shaking down” businesses. Somewhat surprisingly, many residents also expressed concern that this bill is unfair to new business, as we already have many large retailers in the County who apparently are not covered by this bill. After discussion, our civic association board voted unanimously to take a position against this bill.
The biggest flaw of this bill is how it is written. Almost all of the things it strives to do are important, valid, and just. The problem is that it will accomplish none of them, and even many of the supporters appear to understand this based on their testimony. A vague description of 'large retail store' and 'recognized civic organization' will make effective monitoring of the implementation costly and cumbersome for the County. For this cost, the community will get very little, if anything, in return. For example, my civic association, our local civic foundation, and our local elementary school parent-teacher association are three groups that would apparently be eligible. If you draw a five mile radius around my neighborhood, those three groups could satisfy the requirements of this bill for every big box store from Bethesda to Rockville, and Potomac to White Oak. Some new flowers and a coat of new paint on the local recreation center are nice, but not likely to significantly protect our quality of life with higher wages or more affordable housing. Our association stands to benefit directly from this bill, but still we are not comfortable with the message it sends.
The expressed intent of this bill is very valid: we want to protect quality of life in the County. Of course the five co-sponsors, and the other four Council members all want this, so the question really is, "Does this bill actually offer us an effective instrument to do that?" In my view and in the view of many of my neighbors, this bill is more of a blunt object that could do more damage than good for the economic development of our County. If you want things like more affordable housing in specific locations, like those around large retailers, engage them directly to get what you want. If you want to give me a tool to protect transit-oriented areas around metro stations, strengthen the CR zone or rewrite our outdated zoning code. Putting an additional, vague layer of regulation on new business in the county is not likely to accomplish your goal of protecting quality of life. Instead, it will only build upon our growing reputation as a County unfriendly to business.
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Dan Hoffman currently serves as the President of the Randolph Civic Association and is a member of the Western Montgomery County Citizens Advisory Board.
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