Fenty: New Tenleytown library will be able to support future development
By: Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer
September 10, 2009
The Fenty administration on Wednesday finally committed to spend upward of $1 million to build structural supports into the new Tenley-Friendship Library that would allow for residential development atop the branch.
The added supports are vocally opposed by neighborhood leaders who fear a residential tower would steal a significant amount of already-limited green space from the adjacent Janney Elementary School. They are widely backed by smart-growth advocates who want to see transit-oriented development on the prime site at Wisconsin Avenue and Albemarle Street, steps from the Tenleytown Metro Station.
"You have a building that's practically sitting on top of a Metro station," said Ward 3 D.C. Councilwoman Mary Cheh. "Not to have additional development there doesn't make sense."
The $16 million project's scheduled groundbreaking is Sept. 23. The supports are expected to add between $650,000 and $1 million to the total cost.
As of Tuesday evening, Mayor Adrian Fenty had "not made a decision on whether or not to pay for additional support for future development above the library," Sean Madigan, spokesman for the deputy mayor for planning and economic development, said in an e-mail. But by Wednesday, Madigan called to say, "We're doing them."
The funding source, he said, is unclear.
"This building's going to be there for 20 or 30 years, so we want to make sure it's built right," Madigan said.
The decision disappointed those who want a library and nothing else. The Tenleytown community has been without a full-service branch since December 2004.
"I think it's a very inappropriate decision," said Beverly Sklover, a Tenleytown advisory neighborhood commissioner. "Why spend $600,000 that could be used elsewhere to do this when there's not community support? It's absurd."
Robin Diener, executive director of the D.C. Library Renaissance Project, agreed.
"An apartment building or a condo building wedged between a school and a library is not the best use of that public property," Diener said. "It's a great opportunity missed."
Fenty, in October 2007, backed a controversial mixed-use project for the 3.6-acre site, to include a library and a 174-unit residential tower. That plan fell apart but was replaced with a compromise: a standalone library that could support residential later.
Without the supports, Cheh said, the city would foreclose any opportunities for development above the library -- including perhaps a floor dedicated to community or recreational space.
"It's a great site with so much more to offer the community," said Cheryl Cort, policy director with the Coalition for Smarter Growth.
