Neighbor News
Takoma Park Co-op Comes Out Against Takoma Junction Development
The Takoma Park food coop urged the city to delay approving the three-story mixed-use building to be built next door to it
Takoma Park Co-op Comes Out Against Takoma Junction Development
The Takoma ParkSilver Spring food co-op has asked the City council to withhold approval of plans for a three-story mixed use building at Takoma Junction, the site next door to the grocery on Ethan Allen Avenue downtown.
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“If the city and the developer get this right, Takoma Park will be enriched,” said TPSS Co-op Interim Director Martha Whitman. “But if they get it wrong, we have more to lose than anyone.”
The co-op board wrote a letter to Mayor Kate Stewart and the other six city council members saying that while the board has always supported “an appropriate green, low-density development that reflects the special values of this community and allows the co-op to thrive,” the concept put forward by the Washington, D.C. developers NDC this month poses a wide range of problems.
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The 36-year-old co-op serves a broad and diverse customer base and is owned by its 9600+ members, many of whom live within walking distance of the store and proposed development. The board has invited candidates for the city council in the upcoming elections to address the co-op annual meeting on Sunday at the Takoma Park Volunteer Fire Department Hall, 7201 Carroll Ave.
In a message to its members, the co-op board said “the proposed development gambles with the future of the Co-op and is a danger to the safety and character of our neighborhood in Central Takoma Park.” The co-op’s president, Rachel Hardwick, and Whitman have met separately the mayor and many members have communicated to council members their concerns with the current plan:
-- The design is too large for the available footprint, leaving little green space or community access.
-- There is inadequate room for the large trucks that supply the co-op and future tenants each day, forcing the trucks into the street to create bottlenecks and annoy nearby residents. The proposed roadway lay-by will create safety and pedestrian hardships.
-- The design doesn’t appear to allocate enough space for the Co-op and future tenant’s recycling and trash removal.
-- The proposed 72 parking spaces are inadequate for the size of the development.
The council plans to vote on a resolution on the development proposal at their October 25th meeting.