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Council committee advances amended bill to limit overconcentration of convenience stores
Summary
The PHED committee voted 4‑0 to adopt an amendment to CB62, which would add minimum-distance standards for convenience-store uses to address an overconcentration the sponsor said burdens public health; staff will return with technical edits and planning-board review.
The Planning, Housing, and Economic Development Committee advanced an amended version of CB62 on Oct. 3, a proposed zoning-text change meant to reduce the concentration of standalone convenience-store uses in parts of Prince George’s County.
Sponsor Miss Uriatta told the committee she has spent two years working on the measure to prevent what she described as an influx of “stores that are really not even convenience stores,” characterizing many as tobacco shops that sell limited food and alcohol. “We deserve better,” she said, and urged colleagues to support language that would add a minimum distance between convenience-store uses to protect “public health, safety and welfare.”
Council members questioned how the change would apply in transit-oriented, walkable areas and whether stores associated with gas stations would be exempt. Keisha Hall, planning director, said the map in the binder used GIS and MPG Atlas data and did not separate permit-level categories; she offered to provide a breakdown of which locations would be affected. Sponsor Uriatta said the intention was not to cover gas stations but deferred to legal counsel on whether the current wording achieves that exemption.
The committee adopted Amendment 1 — which includes technical and drafting changes, including language on whether a use is “conducted” or “located” — and then voted 4‑0 to give a favorable recommendation to proposed Draft 2 as amended, with the chair and members noting additional amendments could be made before introduction. “We can make additional amendments before introduction,” the sponsor said, asking colleagues to keep the bill alive through the introduction window.
The vote advances the measure to the introduction phase subject to further drafting and required reviews, including additional planning-board public hearings if substantive text changes are made.
