CarMax asked the Gaithersburg mayor and council during a joint public hearing on July 7 to rezone 13.34 acres at 16383 and 16411 Shady Grove Road from MXD (mixed-use development) to C-2 (general commercial) to protect its existing automobile sales operation.

The rezoning request matters because a 2012 annexation covenant with Montgomery County bars residential use of the property so long as the transfer station to the south remains in operation; the applicant said that, together with a recent change to the city’s MXD rules that removed automobile sales as a permitted MXD use, the combination could leave the dealership without a lawful zone if the use ceased for more than 90 days. “We didn’t want to have to come through and reentitle the property,” said Erin Gerard, the applicant’s attorney, explaining that rezoning to C-2 would validate the existing development and preserve the site’s current improvements.

Aaron Gerard (as identified in the hearing) and Bradley Escobar of CarMax described the site and its regulatory history: annexed in February 2012 into the city and originally placed in MXD consistent with the 2006 Shady Grove sector plan; sketch and schematic plans approved in 2013 envisioned an auto sales establishment and a larger office/commercial pad; a site plan approved on February 19, 2024 established the current dealership. The applicant told the council the surrounding area has developed with commercial and industrial uses — including county fleet management and a Maryland Transportation Authority facility — and that the county reaffirmed the long-term role of the nearby transfer station in its February 2021 sector plan update.

Planning staff advised that the application is a standard-method zoning map amendment under city code section 24-12.3 and that, unlike MXD/CD zones, C-2 rezoning does not include a schematic development plan and would require any future redevelopment to go through site plan review. Staff also noted the Maryland Land Use Article, section 4-204, which sets required findings for a rezoning to C-2.

Council and planning commission action: the planning commission voted to hold its record open until 5 p.m. Monday, July 28, 2025, with an anticipated recommendation on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025. The mayor and council voted to hold the city record open until 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, and scheduled anticipated policy discussion and possible final action for Monday, Sept. 15, 2025.

Key factual details from the record: the applicant requested that the temporary use permit covering vehicle storage on the site be extended through Sept. 4, 2030; the earlier schematic development approvals allowed 12,904 square feet for automobile sales and a 225,000-square-foot office/commercial building; the applicant described the county covenant that prohibits residential uses on the site while the transfer station remains in operation. Planning staff noted that any future changes to the site would require site plan approval and that the rezoning request rests in part on a claimed substantial change in circumstances in the surrounding neighborhood since annexation.

What happens next: the public record for the mayor and council is open through Aug. 15, 2025; the council and planning commission will consider additional evidence and then issue recommendations or take final action as scheduled.