Contention dragged on for Clarksburg Town Center

Contention that dragged on for more than four years between the developer of Clarksburg Town Center in Montgomery County, Maryland, and unhappy residents of that traditional neighborhood development may be ending. Under a ruling from the county’s Planning Board, Newland Communities is required to provide 1,025 parking spaces in the development’s downtown, many of them in an underground garage that Newland will provide. Residents and county planning staff members had argued that the downtown needed more spaces than that — and two garages rather than one — if Clarksburg was to attract and support a full range of retailers. But in December the Planning Board struck a compromise. The next step is for Newland to find a retail developer to build the approximately 195,000 sq. ft. of retail.