The Silver Spring Penguin

The Bonifant Court apartments started in 1937 as affordable housing, and wound up a heap of bricks to make way for Silver Spring’s new library. But what happens to the vacant lot until then?

Easy, says Silver Spring regional director Gary Stith: Throw some grass down on it.

Stith told the citizens advisory board Monday night the Bonifant Street lot would be cleared of rubble so that grass seed could be planted. The county would maintain the lawn until construction on the new library begins, he said. And that’s real grass, not AstroTurf.

“I don’t make mistakes twice,” he quipped.

Stith also said he didn’t expect resistance when time to tear up the grass comes around. But advisory board president Debbie Spielberg wasn’t as optimistic. Sitting directly to Stith’s left, Spielberg said under her breath, “I can see problems.”

And downtown Silver Spring has had its problems when it comes to green space. Last year, some area residents threw a fit when they learned the Ellsworth Drive artificial turf would not be part of a future civic center there. Ultimately, the county got its way, but not without hearing it from community activists and the county planning board.

The Silver Spring Historical Society already has plans for the Bonifant Street lot. “The land should serve as a green and interim park,” advocacy chairperson Marci Stickle said in an email to The Penguin.

“One of the first events there should be a Bonifant Street music festival, to draw patrons to the myriad multicultural, small, independent businesses in Fenton Village,” Stickle said.

That’s if the lawn is open to the public. A fence might be erected around the lot to keep people off the grass, Stith said.

Photo: What’s left of the Bonifant Arms apartments will be cleared to make way for Silver Spring’s new library. Image courtesy of Chip Py the Photo Guy.