The planning board threw heat at the Sarbanes Transit Center on Thursday, complaining that its design would be a turnoff for transit riders.
“One way to encourage mass transit is to make it a pleasant experience,” commissioner Wendy Perdue said at the board’s weekly meeting in Silver Spring. “Nothing about this project would suggest a pleasant experience.”
The three-tiered transit hub would have bus stops on its first and second tiers (below, left and center), and space for taxis and drop-offs on the top level(below right), according to the department of public works and transportation.
However, the design does not include streetscaping — paving bricks, greenery and stylish street lamps — at the second tier’s Ramsey Avenue entrance or on the top tier, DPWT’s Bruce Johnston told the board.
It’s a matter of maintenance, Johnston explained. Streetscaping could be added on the county’s dime, but the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which operates Metro, wouldn’t be interested in the upkeep.
An adjacent hotel, which would have vehicular access from the transit center’s third tier, also might be unwilling to maintain the streetscape, Johnston said.
Board members also worried that “value engineering” — trimming details like glass awnings over bus shelters — would compound the structure’s perceived shortcomings.
“I don’t like the idea that other things can be substituted, and all we get is a big block of concrete,” commissioner Meredith Wellington told her colleagues.
The board then pressed Johnston and DPWT to commit to funding the aesthetic details. The commishes argued that DPWT, the planning board and MoCo exec Ike Leggett should plead with the county council for more funds if the cash wasn’t on hand.
“At core, there’s a question of what’s important,” Perdue told Johnston during one exchange. “What I’m nervous about is the sense of commitment to the quality of the building.”
“I can’t count Mr. Leggett to expend capital on the cost of these items,” Johnston responded.
“Then I can’t commit to release the park land” necessary for the transit center’s construction, Perdue shot back.
The planning board revisits the transit center’s design on Thursday, when it will discuss its wishlist for aesthetic details.
Images courtesy of MNCPPC.
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Boxed wines and rosés are back in vogue. Just ask The Penguin's sommeliers.
Looks like the planning board is finally echoing my concerns about the half-assed transit center, which I wrote about back in August 2006.
http://silverspringscene.com/blog/2006/08/18/silver-spring-transit-center-a-disaster-in-the-making/
But it’s going to take more than streetscaping and lamps to redeem this project. It’s not even LEED certified (they axed that part too). If Montgomery County lets WMATA and Foulger Pratt put up some Value brand transit center you can bet they’ll be lots o tax payer money going into fixing this mess.
What ever happened to doing something right the first time?
What happened? Ike Leggett happened, that’s what; the new politically anti-development county council happened. Royce Hanson is the planning board director who was supposed to come in and fix things, and he’s been a huge disappointment to me so far. I’m now working in the Planning Dept as an intern for the summer, so hopefully I’ll get to plead the case more from behind-the-scenes.
Hey Pennster, want a job as a Penguin spy?
How much does it pay? :P
It wouldn’t pay anything.
However, you could be issued The Penguin’s official license to chill. It works against cantankerous bosses, tight-fisted office managers and generally anyone out to ruin your day.
[...] the transit center is scheduled for 2009 completion.” Heh. After reading that savvy Silver Spring Penguin the other day, it’ll be interesting to see how close that is. And what the final product will [...]
[...] The planning board irons out details of the Silver Spring Transit Center. The discussion drops at planning board HQ (8787 Georgia Ave) during the 1:00 p.m. [...]
Haha, well I actually love working here. The people in the Planning Department are in fact brilliant people who generally share many of our own concerns in terms of smarter and denser development in downtown Silver Spring. It’s the Planning Board and County Council that need a giant kick in the butt.
Here’s this for a start?
http://www.examiner.com/a-793665~Planning_board_applicants_blast_growth_policy.html
I would be glad to help you look out for information or hints about what is happening in Silver Spring that my supervisors wouldn’t be concerned about releasing to the public.
[...] Board commissioners previously refused to give up the parkland, saying they did not want aesthetic elements scratched for the sake of slimming the project’s budget. [...]