Members of the Takoma Park Presbyterian Church last year were searching for ways to serve their community, and came up with a solution not too far away.
The church’s kitchen has sat unused on a regular basis since 1982, when Montgomery County ended a breakfast and lunch program for children at the church’s daycare. Many now hope to revitalize the space as a robust community commercial kitchen that provides meals, food service training and the opportunity for low-income residents to process their own produce as part of a micro-enterprise initiative.
To make it possible, the county council must pass a zoning text amendment that would allow for commercial kitchens in residential zones. The church, connected to the Takoma Park Child Development Center and a gym, is at the corner of Tulip Avenue in a neighborhood of single-family homes.
“Part of what we started to realize is that we've got an amazing asset in terms of space,” said the Rev. Mark Greiner, pastor at the church. “Part of our role really can be a place of intersection for a broad cross section of the community to be able to meet one another. We have a resource we can offer to the community that people are really calling out for.”
The church has broad community and political support. The Crossroads Community Food Network, Takoma Park Silver Spring Co-op and Takoma Park chapter of Meals on Wheels all have discussed ways to work with the proposed program. Representatives from those organizations, Greiner and church members testified in favor of the amendment in front of the county council last week.
County Councilmember George Leventhal (D-At large) of Takoma Park introduced the zoning amendment after lobbying from Takoma Park Councilmember Seth Grimes (Ward 1) and other supporters. The county’s Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee is scheduled to discuss it on March 12. Leventhal said he expects it will come out of committee with clearer limitations on hours of operation and size. The kitchen will not serve as a place to eat or drink, only as a place to prepare food, which Leventhal said was a key distinction.
“It seems benign to me,” Leventhal said. “It seems like a good purpose and I don’t think it will be an intrusion.”
Jill Feasley, who runs the Takoma Park Meals on Wheels program out of the kitchen at the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church on New Hampshire Avenue, said work at the 600-square foot Presbyterian kitchen would not disturb residents. Feasley lives about 50 yards from the church, where she also is a member.
“If you want to start doing any kind of business, if you want to sell cookies on a street corner or make something for the farmers market, you need to do that in a licensed food service facility. There are not many of these facilities that are available at a low cost,” Feasley said. “This provides an affordable option.”
David Lanar, scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 33, oversees the group’s annual pancake supper at the church. Lanar, who lives four blocks away, said the troop uses the kitchen to prepare food for more than 800 people.
“I know there are legitimate concerns about its use in a residential area,” Lanar said. “Finding a place to park there for the delivery of food stuff is something that will have to be worked out, but it’s a facility that I think is underused and it could serve this community.”
Former Takoma Park Silver Spring Co-op Board member Lorig Charkoudian hopes to help organize a network of local micro-enterprise programs, in which residents could process their own food for a small profit. Many kitchen supporters used the example of converting home-grown tomatoes into salsa or tomato sauce for sale as a positive economic benefit.
Greiner said the church has a $5,000 grant for planning the kitchen’s redesign and another grant for providing food handling license training.
“I think everybody supports the concept. It’s such an obvious need and such a clear response to several issues that are facing a community,” Charkoudian said. “No one doesn’t agree with that.”
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