Riverkeeper challenges approval of Woodmore project 

Posted: 7:50 pm Thu, July 8, 2010
By Brendan Kearney
Daily Record Legal Affairs Writer

The Patuxent Riverkeeper has filed suit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to protest the agency’s recent approval of Woodmore Towne Centre, a 245-acre mixed-use project in Prince George’s County just outside the Washington Beltway.

The watershed advocacy group claims the Corps of Engineers’ verification that the development was eligible for a state wetlands permit was “arbitrary and capricious,” came without well-articulated reasoning, and ought to be overturned.

Riverkeeper Fred Tutman emphasized that his nonprofit simply wants “a quality process” for construction projects that will affect water quality in the vicinity of Maryland’s largest intrastate river.

“It’s not a piece of anti-shopping center litigation,” he said. “It’s a piece of pro-diligence litigation.”

The development, which is partially built and expected to include several big-box stores, will impact nearly 40,000 square feet of wetlands and streams, according to the suit; yet, with the Corps of Engineers’ verification, the developer has failed to minimize its impact and present suitable mitigation plans.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, is just the latest challenge to Woodmore, whose opening date has been pushed back multiple times.

Towson lawyer G. Macy Nelson, who represents the Patuxent Riverkeeper, lost a different appeal last spring that focused on the developer’s efforts to ease traffic around Woodmore. According to a report at the time, the County Council unanimously approved the site plan.

A Corps of Engineers spokesman in Baltimore declined to comment on the allegations that his agency’s approval was unsupported.

“We need to study the complaint,” said Clem Gaines, the spokesman. “We really don’t have enough information to make any substantive comment right now.”

A spokesman for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which is a defendant in the case because it administers the Clean Water Act, also declined to comment.

Developer Petrie/Elg Inglewood LLC had to obtain the Corps of Engineers’ approval before getting its state wetlands permit (known as the Maryland State Programmatic General Permit-3) to build on the plot just north of Fed-Ex Field on the east side of I-495.

According to the suit, the developer applied for the permit in April 2007, and revised the project’s impact upward a couple of times before finally receiving comments from the Corps of Engineers a year ago.

The comments questioned why certain road alignment and stormwater management decisions were made, the Riverkeeper alleges.

Although the developer has not addressed those concerns, the Corps of Engineers verified the developer’s compliance in March, the suit says. The Maryland Department of Environment issued the permit on March 19.

A phone message left at Petrie Ross Ventures LLC, whose other projects have included the Annapolis Towne Centre, was not returned by press time Thursday.

According to dated photos on the developer’s website, ground work on the project appears to have started about two years ago, and the Wegman’s grocery store that will anchor the shopping center, along with a Costco, is nearly done. Woodmore Towne Centre is also slated to include apartment and office towers.