The Neighborhood Development Company has released a statement responding to a lawsuit filed April 27 by Takoma Park-Silver Spring Co-op against NDC and the City of Takoma Park in a dispute over the co-op’s access to a city-owned parking lot and its ability to take deliveries.
The response refers to a document from Takoma Park’s city manager, since retracted, concerning “the unsafe operation of 18-wheeler and other delivery trucks, at the direction of the co-op. The city manager determined that the co-op’s delivery operations pose a significant threat to school-age children, pedestrian, bicyclist and driver safety.”
In an earlier statement dated April 24, NDC said it had commissioned its own study, the results of which concurred with the city manager’s concerns.
NDC sent a letter to co-op management on April 15, citing those concerns expressed by both the city and the State Highway Administration, which served as notice of 30-day termination of the co-op’s sublease.
The current statement reads, “NDC has offered to meet with both the city and the co-op to work out a plan ensuring that operations do not pose a threat to public safety. Rather than take us up on that offer, the co-op has now filed suit against the city and NDC, defiantly claiming they will continue their practices no matter the safety concerns raised by public officials or others.
“We believe that the best course of action is for NDC and the city to meet to resolve these serious public safety issues and to advance our important Takoma Junction public private partnership.”
The lot in dispute is on the west wide of the co-op’s property, and NDC’s April 24 statement pointed out the co-op could still use the lot and take deliveries on the east side, “used for this purpose in prior years and is a clear and workable alternative while we work together to resolve these most important safety issues.”
Screenshot from an early sketch plan presentation of the proposed NDC project