Photo by Maryland Route 5

Resident Jeff Davis shared the news with the Cleveland Park listserve this morning that the years-long battle to allow Giant Food to remodel its store at Wisconsin & Newark appears to have finally come to an end. The project dates as far back at 1998, though it was revived in its current form in 2006 before being derailed once again by NIMBY concerns over traffic and parking. You’ll recall that more recently, the Cleveland Park Citizens Association experienced a coup/meltdown in the wake of the impending Giant plan approval.

Be sure to note the “coming together” party planned for the neighborhood tonight at the bottom of the letter. Hopefully a new grocery store can heal all those wounds?

Last night, the Zoning Commission voted unanimously (4 to 0) to approve the Giant PUD Application. The zoning process was robust, transparent, and fair and it yielded a terrific overall result.

Thanks are due to the ANC, led by Anne-Marie Bairstow and Nancy MacWood before her, for their strong leadership. Their work on the application over the years dramatically improved the design, as the Commissioners acknowledged last night. The ANC’s unanimous, conditional vote of support for the application was a strong and valuable expression of community sentiment.

The CPCA, Wisconsin Newark Neighbors Coalition, and other parties also deserve credit for their hard work and dedication to a full and fair hearing of the parking, traffic, and loading issues that concerned the some in the neighbrohood, particularly the immediate neighbors. The Zoning Commission clearly heard their views and noted the number of ways that they caused Giant to improve the traffic, parking, and loading features of the project. They should be proud of their successes.

Hopefully, the entie neighbrohood can accept this ruling and begin to put this divisive issue behind us. There is a “coming together” celebration at Nanny O’Briens tonight between 6 and 8pm. I hope to see many of you there.