A dark store of the flash delivery company Zapp on Fagelstraat in West has to close the doors of the warehouse within two weeks. The district had already indicated last December that it was against the branch that they had to close.
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The dark store has to close due to the amount of complaints about nuisance and because the warehouse goes against the zoning plan. In December, the district already had a letter sent to branch that they should close the doors. “We do not want to wait for a central policy from the city,” a spokesperson said at the time.
The fact that the district was not yet able to do anything official was because the case was legally difficult. “Darkstores were a new phenomenon, so we had to substantiate this case legally. You can only do this once, so it took a while before we finalized this case.”
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But now that the matter has been finalized, the district must close the doors of the branch within two weeks. “A dark store does not fit in a residential street like Fagelstraat. They have proven that themselves recently,” says district manager Melanie van der Horst.
The neighborhood around the dark store is heavily affected by the work and the employees. For example, there would be shouting and there are regularly trucks in the one-way street. On Monday, an AT5 intern was also attacked by Zapp staff who took pictures of the building. Local residents were therefore very happy with the action of the district against the flash delivery company.
The reactions to the news that the dark store has to disappear are therefore positive. “It does bother you at night,” said a neighbor. “No more trucks at 7 a.m. So that’s great.” A neighbor is also happy: “I am now happy that it is going away. Also because there have been two robberies, which is not pleasant, because we live right next door.”
Two robberies
Zapp’s branch was also robbed twice in March. On March 16, five men entered the warehouse armed. Eight days later, on March 24, the place was ambushed again by two men with stabbing weapons.
Zapp leave a comment AT5/NH Amsterdam know that it regrets the tensions between the company and the residents and they say they are making efforts to improve the situation. The company also indicates that they have had to hear about the imposed closure through the media and would like to talk to the city district council, but that no response has yet been received to several requests. Finally, Zapp says that it takes time to understand everything. Whether that means they will legally challenge the closure is not clear.
The municipality denies that the company had to hear the news from the media. “There was a special call last night to say that they would receive the letter with the order under administrative coercion today,” a spokesperson said.
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