Takoma Park Would Require Requests For Proposals for Use of the City Lot

The City of Takoma Park would have to seek requests for proposals (RFP) to use the city owned lot—even to lease the property—that the Takoma Park Silver Spring co-op (TPSS) is considering to use in its planned expansion, a member of the co-op told the Takoma Park Junction Task Force at its June 7 meeting.

Lorig Charkoudian, who is both a member of the TPSS co-op and the junction task force, said the co-op met with Sara Daines, Takoma Parks’s director of Housing and Community Development, before the task force meeting and Daines said that to even lease the city lot on Carroll Avenue adjacent to the co-op would require the city to seek RFPs. “We’ve been operating under the assumption that a sale of the lot would require an RFP, ” but it was a surprise to learn that “a long-term lease” would also require an RFP, she said.

An RFP would open up the city to other potential tenants who want to use the city lot. However, while the Takoma Park would be required to seek RFPs, the city can include “criteria” in the RFP notice, Charkoudian said. “It doesn’t just have to be the highest bid (to gain use of the property),” she said adding, the RFP criteria can required the winning bid be related to job creation, or accessibility to healthy food, or serve the community, she added.

The phase commonly used is “in the best interests” of the community,” said Andy Kelemen, task force member.

That the city would require proposals to gain use of the lot is “significant,” said Charkoudian, who added that Daines told the co-op the city has not ventured into public-private partnerships, which the TPSS co-op has been considering.

“The city doesn’t have a formal vision of a public-private partnership with joint ownership, joint business interests,” Charkoudian said. However, Daines added that does not mean that the city cannot enter into such a partnership, “but historically they haven’t,” Charkoudian said.

In addition, Daines did list the ways the city helps business development, Charkoudian said, including listing some financing sources such as the Community Legacy program. There is some country or state money in that program that the co-op had not thought of, and the city can play a definite role in helping make those kinds of connections, she said.

The co-op has also been discussing supporting the junction task force when is makes its presentation to in September, the junction task force is scheduled to be disbanded Sept. 30, and the panel has begun initial planning of the final report that it is to file. The co-op has been discussing whether to have drawings produced of what an expanded co-op would look like, she said.

However, Daines “strongly suggested” the co-op not go in that direction, Charkoudian said. Daines suggests that the co-op “continue to vision the conceptual stuff,” but questions surrounding the current visions of an expanded co-op have emerged. “We have to have answers in terms of some of the conceptual pieces,” she said. There are three “visions” concerning the planned expansion. They are: To develop the existing facility to the east; To develop the existing building to the west; To develop another building in the middle of the lot.

At this point, it is not clear which development plan the co-op should start drawing, Charkoudian said. “Without knowing what the council is even open to considering, it doesn’t make sense for the co-op to invest a lot of funds into those,” she said. That’s why there has been hesitation to seek drawings.

Nonetheless, Howard Kohn, task force co-chair, supports the co-op spending about $1,000 to have three sketches produced of each development plan, because it provides a “way for people to visualize all three concepts.”