Dumfries Town Council on Tuesday approved the last local permits for a grocery-anchored project at 17439 and 17471 Old Stagecoach Road, voting three times and passing each item 7-0. The grocer has not been named. No one spoke at the public hearings.
The votes were taken at Town Hall, 17739 Main Street. They had been carried over from the Sept. 15 meeting, when the council rezoned about 15.33 acres from limited industrial to general business. That rezoning, REZ-2026-001, covers the parcels and right-of-way southeast of Route 1 and Potomac Shores Parkway. Tuesday’s items were the permits that still had to come back.
The first vote, CUP-2026-002, allows a drive-through pharmacy inside the proposed grocery. The Planning Commission recommended it unanimously on Aug. 10. Staff also recommended approval. Mayor Derrick R. Wood made the motion. Brian K. Fields, Shaun R. Peet, Russell A. Young, Caetrina A. Peterson, Selonia B. Miles, Monaé S. Nickerson and Wood voted yes.
The second vote, CUP-2026-003, allows off-premises beer and wine sales in sealed containers at the same site. The applicant is Bridgeline Development Group, LLC. The commission and staff had recommended approval. The first motion cited the sign plan by mistake. It was withdrawn and restated as CUP-2026-003. That corrected motion passed 7-0.
The third vote, CSP-2026-001, approves a comprehensive sign plan for the project, which the packet brands Dumfries Marketplace. The plan covers a monument sign, building-mounted signs, internally illuminated signs, a freestanding sign near the stoplight, and pharmacy drive-through signs. The monument is about 15 feet tall and about 120 square feet. Noah Klein of Venable and Carla Kassenbaum were on the applicant team. Reginald Tabor, the town’s director of planning, community and economic development, presented the items. The commission and staff recommended the sign plan. It passed 7-0.
Klein said the grocer’s name is still confidential and that an announcement would come “in the future,” after the discretionary approvals.
“Tonight, council just completed the remaining approvals needed at this stage for a grocery anchored development,” Wood said. “Approval tonight does not mean a ribbon cutting is happening tomorrow. There’s still site plan review, permitting, engineering, infrastructure work and construction ahead.” He tied the project to the town’s gateway, its tax base and the Destination Dumfries vision. Council members who have been on the body since 2018 framed the store as a way to cut the town’s food desert.
A stormwater fix is not done. A puddle near a retaining wall on the east side, as a person faces the front of the site, is still being designed. The town has not set an opening date, and construction has not started.
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