Judge rules against residents in Westbard lawsuit

Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Richard Jordan has ruled against residents in their lawsuit against Montgomery County over the Westbard sector plan. The lawsuit cited three illegalities by the County Council and Planning Board in their approval of the plan in 2016. Plaintiffs have the option to appeal the decision, and are currently deciding whether to do so. The judge's decision has not yet been docketed, but a source close to the case has seen the document.

It is indeed troubling that County officials can be given a free pass when breaking the law - and their own laws, to boot. In fact, one of the laws broken that required the Planning Board to measure the carbon and greenhouse gas emissions a plan would generate. That law was championed and steered to passage by Councilmember Roger Berliner, who did not call out the board for breaking that law when commissioners appeared before the Council during worksessions on the plan. Berliner, like the rest of the Council, voted in favor of the plan.

The Westbard fight is far from over, but the lawsuit was worth every penny. Attorney Michele Rosenfeld is arguably the sharpest land-use lawyer in the County, and one of the few who will represent residents rather than developers. Her efforts in research and litigation got results again in this case (which may not be over).

Developer Regency Centers had to scale back its initial plan. While the developer ultimately may be able to build as much as originally-planned (or more, using loopholes in the law), that construction will be staged over a much longer period - at least a decade. Instead of all of Ridgefield Road and Westbard Avenue being torn up at once in a maelstrom of dust and rat hordes, it will be a more orderly process.

Small business owners and workers at the Westwood Shopping Center will be able to stay in place longer, and continue to receive income, as a result of the lawsuit. Those folks have become friends and neighbors to the community over decades, and this alone made the lawsuit worth the modest cost. Regency has promised that, unlike the pre-lawsuit plan, it will leave the existing center in place until the first building of the new development is completed.

While the "civic green" at the New Westwood will still be laughably small, and right next to the main entrance drive for vehicles, only after the lawsuit did it get expanded to a "whopping" half-acre. Unlike the original plan, we'll continue to have one Citgo gas station for fuel and repairs on Westbard Avenue for either another nine years, or until Bowlmor Lanes decides it wants out of its lease.

Finally, unlike the pre-lawsuit Regency plan, there will be some surface parking available at the new center for those who don't wish to use a garage.

The lawsuit is a great example of how Montgomery County residents are forced to fend for themselves against urbanization of established suburban-scale residential neighborhoods from Bethesda to Damascus. Instead of the people we elected speaking for us and defending our interests, residents have to hire lawyers at their own expense. If elected to the County Council this fall, I will not only vote against the existing Planning Board commissioners who seek another term, but will fight to reestablish the Office of the People's Counsel to provide another tool for residents in development and zoning fights.