Clarksburg's Supermarket-Stifling Restriction Lifted

Clarksburg could at last be on its way to a supermarket of its own after the Montgomery County Council OK’d a measure to bypass restrictions in the town’s master plan that was inadvertently prohibiting the development.

Per staging guidelines in Clarksburg’s master plan from 1994, another 90,000 square feet of retail space needed to be built before any more construction could begin around the town center. The master plan called for Clarksburg’s first grocery store to be in the town center, but property owners there have no plans to build one.

The amendment—which the County Council approved 8-0 on Tuesday—eliminates that provision.

Councilman Craig Rice, who represents the upcounty (District 2), and Councilwoman Nancy Floreen, head of the council’s Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee, proposed the amendment.

"I understand the frustration of the people who already live in Clarksburg," Rice said in a statement. "Hopefully, passage of this amendment will be a major step toward bringing a grocery store to the community."

Property owners nearby want to build a grocery store.

"For a variety of reasons, Clarksburg has not developed as intended, and in regard to needed retail amenities—such as a grocery store—the residents have not received what they expected," Floreen said in a statement. "While we believe in the intent of the master plan, this was a needed action to correct a situation we did not anticipate."

County Executive Isiah Leggett has promised to expedite the approval process for a Clarksburg grocery store.