Takoma Co-op Aware City Lot Was Trash Dump

The Takoma Park Silver Spring Co-op (TPSS Co-op) is aware that the city lot onto which it might expand its operations was once a trash dump, but no decisions on how it will proceed have been made, a member of the co-op’s board said.

TPSS Co-op Board Member Mary Rooker, who is also on the co-op’s expansion committee, said the board is “very aware” that the city lot was once a trash dump, which places “some limitations” on the co-op’s expansion plans.

The co-op is gathering information on the waste dump, and it is “exploring all options,” said Rooker, who added, “there’s a lot of options.” Among the information collected by the co-op is the potential cost of a clean up at the city lot. “We’ve gotten some estimates of how much it would cost; of course that’s anywhere from $500,000 to several million dollars,” she said, adding it is a “big ball park” figure. The actual cost of a clean up will “depend on what you find when you start digging,” she said.

Local businessman John Urciolo, who owns the Laurel Avenue shopping plaza as well as additional properties, recently told the Takoma Junction Task Force that a local business used to haul and dump trash at areas in and around the city lot. The wooded area near the lot is probably filled with trash also, according to task force members. Because the cost of a clean up at the site could be very expensive, it is not likely any business would develop the lot without the city paying for a clean up, according to Urciolo.

The co-op does expect that the city would pay to clean up the lot, if the co-op expansion plans involve digging far enough down for an underground parking garage, Rooker said. However, the expansion committee has not made a decision on if an underground parking garage would be part of the co-op’s expansion plan. “But I personally can’t see that option,” she added.

Deciding how the co-op should proceed is difficult because it does not own the parcel, Rooker said. “The city owns that land,” and for the co-op to say it is going to pay for the clean-up of the trash dump at the city lot, would be like if Rooker told a neighbor, “oh there’s problem in your yard, I’ll fix that,” she said. While the co-op has not decided how to proceed, there is one thing it will not do, that is pay for any clean up of the site, she said. “We would not say to the city we’ll take care of your problem,” she said, because “that’s a lot of money.”