D.C. court decision bodes well for Westbard lawsuit

A recent court victory for D.C. residents fighting a proposed development in their neighborhood bolsters a lawsuit filed by residents against Montgomery County regarding a similar project in the Westbard area of Bethesda. Like the Save Westbard-led legal effort here, Friends of McMillan Park based their case in part upon the government's disregard for several requirements under its own laws. Notably, development firm EYA is a partner in both the Westbard and McMillan Park projects.

A D.C. Court of Appeals panel vacated the District's approvals for the McMillan project, and sent it back to the D.C. Zoning Commission and Mayor's office with orders to address the ignored requirements. It turns out the D.C. government, like Montgomery County, failed to examine the environmental impact of the proposed development. In its ruling, the three-judge panel wrote, "FOMP contends that the Commission has a clear responsibility under the applicable statutes and regulations to assess environmental impacts when deciding whether to grant a PUD application. For the reasons already stated, we agree."

On that and several other points, the Court agreed with FOMP, and is requiring the ignored issues to be addressed. Does this mean the McMillan project is sunk? Of course not. But the ruling does suggest that the Westbard lawsuit is of equal merit, and is not likely to be simply dismissed in court. And that if the ruling is similar, the Westbard sector plan could be remanded to the County Council and Montgomery County Planning Board again, to complete the legally-required reviews they failed to execute.