More News

Citing an arcane law that doesn't allow Christmas trees to be sold in Montgomery County before Dec. 5, an inspector from the county's zoning department shut down the North Bethesda United Methodist Church's sale on Dec. 1, along with at least one other stand.

"We've never had a complaint, and the community thinks it's a great lot," said the Rev. Debbie Scott, pastor at the church on Old Georgetown Road. "If you're not going to enforce this law on everybody, then why us?"

Zoning Investigator Frank De Lange said he had received a complaint about a tree lot on Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda. When De Lange asked him to stop selling, that salesman asked why other lots —like the one at the church—hadn't been shut down. To be fair, De Lange said, he made a visit to the North Bethesda church and asked for it to close up shop until Dec. 5.

"We haven't dealt with this much in the past few years," De Lange said, "but when we get a complaint we're obligated to follow up on it."

De Lange said the department is complaint-driven, meaning that investigators wouldn't shut down a sale unless someone brought it to their attention.

The church issued a verbal warning. If it had not shut down, it would have faced a $500 fine, De Lange said.

Meanwhile, Scott was scrambling to find some answers.

She called the offices of both Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) and County Councilman Roger Berliner (D-Dist.1) of Potomac, complaining to both about the law. On Thursday, she finally heard the news she wanted to hear: reopen the shop.

"The County Executive believes that the government has better things to do with its time than enforce this law," said Leggett spokesman Patrick Lacefield. "His view is that this is something the market can take care of on its own. People aren't going to buy or sell trees when it's not the right time."

Lacefield said the law was introduced into the county zoning code— Chapter 59, Section C, Paragraph 1.31 —sometime between 1965 and 1972, at a time when Christmas wasn't celebrated as early into November as it is now.

Lacefield would not release the identity of the person who originally complained about the stand on Wisconsin Avenue, saying the person had requested anonymity.

For Scott, the news meant her church wouldn't lose any more money than it already has. She said a "friend of the church" runs the sale, and in turn gives a tithe of the sales to the congregation.

That amount—usually around $3,000 each year, Scott said—is in turn used to fund the church's mission work.

"I had none of this in seminary," Scott said, referring to her inquiring of her county officials. "It's taking away from feeding the souls of my congregation, having to do this."