Junction Task Force To Seek 4-Month Extension

The Takoma Junction Task Force plans to ask the city council for a four-month extension beyond the date when it is scheduled to disband in order to review its final report and obtain input from city staff on the document, the committee said at its meeting Wednesday evening.

The Task Force is going to ask the city council for the extension during a presentation to the council on Sept. 19. The Task Force is also going to ask city clerk Jessie Carpenter if members of the committee who are candidates for city council seats can remain on the task force if those members do win seats on the council.

Task Force co-chair Seth Grimes (Ward 1), along with Task Force members Lorig Charkoudian (Ward 2) and Kay Daniels-Cohen (Ward 3) have declared their candidacy for council seats. They seek to replace outgoing council members Josh Wright (Ward 1), Colleen Clay (Ward 2) and Dan Robinson (Ward 3). Charkoudian is the only hopeful being challenged so far. Tim Male is also running for the Ward 2 seat. However, the Takoma Park candidate nominating caucus is scheduled for Oct. 4, and more candidates could emerge at the caucus. The general election is Nov. 8.

Currently, the Task Force is scheduled to disband once it delivers its report, which Task Force member Roger Schlegel (who is overseeing the first draft of the report) said would be finished by the end of September.

The extension would be for four months and run into January with the first two months dedicated to revising the report, Grimes said. The revisions would be with city staff participation, he added. While city staff would help with revising the report, the staffers would not have a voting role on the report’s contents, according to the task force.

In addition to the extension, the Task Force plans to provide the city council with some early recommendations on policy matters related to the junction area such as the establishment of a process for dealing with the traffic at the junction, including fostering a strong working relationship with the Maryland State Highway Administration, followed by an effort to measure traffic and pedestrians along those roads (which would require obtaining the assistance of expert consultants who can provide traffic simulations).

The Task Force will also recommend the city undertake an assessment of the city lot located at the junction including the collection of records and aerial photographs for an environmental survey of the area to determine the actual location and size of the waste dump said to be there. The committee also recommends the city allocate funds to get outside assistance for that assessment as needed.

The first step is to conduct a detailed survey is to learn what is there, said Task Force member Lorraine Pearsall. That includes record gathering to learn what was accepted there and to try and understand how large it is, because it is not known exactly where it is, she said. In addition, Pearsall said random boring might provide information on what is buried at a particular spot, but it will not provide information on what is buried at other locations in the dump, which is why a survey is needed, she said.