Posts about Wheaton Costco

In the past, I have disagreed with the Kensington Heights Civic Association. In this case, they have very reasonable concerns about having a new large gas station next to their houses because of their poor environmental record. In this case, they aren't anti-neighbors:

Having a Costco in the mall is seen by many in the community as a potentially positive development. The Kensington Heights Citizens Association (KHCA) position is to support the store.

Of great concern, however, to the citizens of the Kensington Heights community is that the Costco development includes a 16-pump gas station adjacent to our residences and the Kenmont Swim and Tennis Club.

We feel that it will negatively impact the neighborhood where there are 250 Kensington Heights homes within 1,000 feet of the station.

As I mentioned before, I don't oppose Costco in Wheaton. The store itself will bring foot traffic and more Metro use in addition to many more automobile trips. I don't think that a Costco store will help or hurt walkability in the short term. (In the long term, there could be disastrous missed redevelopment opportunities.) However, adding a gas station would cross the line into outright harm.

Looking at the above map, the gas station would not be immediately accessible by car from University Boulevard. A motorist wishing to purchase Costco gas would have to travel around Westfield Wheaton's winding ring road. They would then get in line for one of the 16 proposed gas pumps. The car infrastructure is not there to support the new gas station.

Since we're talking about a gas station, we're talking only about moving cars, not people. While that's a negative enough proposition, the Westfield Wheaton ring road is a private road and is not subject to county traffic feasibility studies. However, University Boulevard (MD 193) would be, as would Viers Mill Road (MD 586).

A Costco gas station is usually located on an ugly, gas-guzzling suburban arterial like U.S. 1 in Beltsville. While a Costco on its own in the mall could potentially have little effect on Wheaton's walkability in the short term, a gas station certainly would move Wheaton in the wrong direction in the Whirlpool of Induced Demand.

It is puzzling that the same Administration that wants to employ traffic test after traffic test in White Flint, limiting walkable development unless cars could be assured of fast movement, suddenly abandoned its car-centric traffic concerns when Costco came calling.

Please contact the Montgomery County Council in advance of the hearing on Thursday, May 20 and let them you know you don't agree with Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) #10-04.

The $4 million would go to preparing the site, such as regrading the parking area to the lower left that is on a slope to accommodate a gas station.

Adam Pagnucco writes,

Costco customers drive in, sometimes from areas many miles away, to buy in bulk and leave. They do not travel by Metro or bus. They require a giant parking lot. They do not walk from the Costco site to engage in nearby pedestrian activities. The Costco on Route 1 in Beltsville is a perfect example of the company's business model: a giant big-box on an auto-dominated strip. While one part of the county government is planning to make Wheaton a mixed-use, transit-oriented community, another part of the government is offering a subsidy for car-oriented sprawl. Does this make sense?

Some local small businesses feel the Costco would drive them out of business. It's not even clear the Costco would benefit the mall itself. A mall's appeal is to bring together multiple stores so that shoppers need not drive long distances to many stores. Costco, on the other hand, is designed to serve virtually every need in one store. Not only would shoppers probably not walk from a Costco to a nearby coffee shop, library or park, but they probably wouldn't go to a nearby shoe store either.

Montgomery County spans 507 square miles, about 476 of which are not within a mile of a Metro station. If County officials want another Costco, how about picking a suitable commercial area in those 476? Such a site might also not require the extensive regrading that's causing Costco to ask for public money.

Update: Thanks to the many who participated and disagreed in the comments. The core issue is not really about whether a Costco would or would not make Wheaton better or drive other businesses out. There's definitely the question about whether the subsidy is wise, compared to the other ways Montgomery County could spend it. But most of all, it's about whether promoting another big box surrounded by acres of parking with a gas station gets Wheaton closer to the kind of place it should be.

If Costco wanted to build an urban-friendly store in a compact footprint, in a way that promotes some street-facing ground floor retail and facilitates developing the surrounding land as buildings rather than parking lots, then sure, though there would still be the debate over the subsidy. But the Executive doesn't seem to have a larger vision for the area, and designing a Costco this way will just make it harder to evolve Wheaton into a walkable place in the future.