A key D.C. Council member is threatening to oppose the combined Tenleytown library and apartment building project over concern that the project will reduce green space and take years too long to complete.
In a July 24 letter to Neil Albert, deputy mayor for planning and economic development, Ward 3 D.C. Councilwoman Mary Cheh said she was “deeply concerned that the Janney/Tenley public-private partnership project will not meet the essential ingredients” she had spelled out months ago. Cheh represents Tenleytown, the Northwest neighborhood where Mayor Adrian Fenty and developer LCOR Inc. have proposed a 130-unit residential tower combined with a new 20,000-square-foot library, plus underground parking.
Specifically, Cheh wrote, the project as proposed so far would seem to reduce net green space at nearby Janney Elementary School, would not produce enough revenue for the District to hasten Janney’s modernization, would delay construction of the library, would not provide sufficient affordable housing and would not meet strict environmental standards.
“At the moment,” Cheh told The Examiner Wednesday, “I am unable to support it.”
The letter was co-signed by an aide to at-large Councilman Kwame Brown, chairman of the economic development committee. It calls for Albert to assure that the final deal with LCOR meets the council’s requirements.
The proposed project, slated for a 3.6-acre tract across from the Tenleytown Metro Station on Wisconsin Avenue, has sparked protests and intense opposition from many residents and the adjacent Saint Ann’s Church. Smart-growth advocates support the proposal.
