Store Size Cap – Talbot County, MD

In 2003, the Talbot County Council enacted an ordinance barring stores over 65,000 square feet from locating in any area of the county outside of the boundarires of incorporated cities and towns. Lowe’s, a national home improvement chain, gathered signatures to force a ballot referendum on the size cap in November 2004. But voters upheld the cap in a 53 to 47 percent vote. (Talbot County’s largest city, Easton, has also adopted a store size cap ordinance .)

CODE OF TALBOT COUNTY, MARYLAND
v3 Updated 6-15-2004

THE CODE
Chapter 190, ZONING
ARTICLE IV, Land Use Regulations by Zoning Districts
§ 190-20. Additional land use regulations.

.. . (a) No structure shall exceed 65,000 square feet in gross floor area. For the purposes of this subsection, the term "gross floor area" shall include indoor and outdoor space utilized for retail display and sale of goods. No combination of structures, or structures and outside retail display and sales areas on the same or on contiguous lots or parcels shall exceed 65,000 square feet in gross floor area for a single or commonly controlled retail business operation. . .

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Stacy Mitchell

Stacy Mitchell is co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and directs its Independent Business Initiative, which produces research and designs policy to counter concentrated corporate power and strengthen local economies.