Council gives transit center financial boost
The county council on Tuesday unanimously approved a $16.7 million appropriation — and then some — to cover the construction of Silver Spring’s transit center.
The appropriation bridges the project’s original $75 million price tag with the rising cost of, well, everything. But the county council was feeling frisky during its weekly meeting and tossed the project an extra $849,000 worth of planning board-recommended frou-frou.
“We split the baby here in terms of what we supported and what we didn’t support,” council member Nancy Floreen (D-At large) told her colleagues.
Originally, the planning board suggested $1.3 million in upgrades, which included glass-enclosed escalators, distinct paving for crosswalks, a glass canopy over the Metro station entrance, and a hut outside the station serving as a commuter-services store and police station.
And on Tuesday morning in Rockville, the cherry picking began.
The Metro station’s canopy “gives the Silver Spring transit center a pleasing look, something we can be proud of,” council member Valerie Ervin (D-District 5) said. “It gives the space an element of safety.”
That piece of work was approved for funding, as was the fancy paving for crosswalks. The council members opted for cheaper glass-and-metal enclosures for the transit center’s elevators.
But the big sticking point was the commuter-services store and police station. The planning board and Silver Spring’s citizens advisory board wanted the structure there to help lost commuters and to gussy up the landscape. However, Silver Spring’s urban-district advisory committee argued last week that a police station could scare away visitors.
At-large member Marc Elrich thought a structure near the Metro station entrance was a good idea. The hut would block commuters’ views of the transit center’s first-tier driveway — what he called “the mouth of a cave” — doing the landscape good, even if it didn’t house police. It also worked to have a commuter-services store where the commuters were, he expressed.
But others, including the department of general services and council member Roger Berliner (D-District 1), felt the police station was better off in the transit center’s second tier, in a corner of the structure away from Colesville Road.
“When I look at that versus the alternative — planters — I’m dissuaded from believing that one option is better than the other,” Berliner told his colleagues. “But nothing precludes us from revisiting this in the future.”
Ultimately, the council voted against the $500,000 structure. Only council members Ervin, Elrich and Duchy Trachtenberg (D-At large) supported its construction.
The heavy lifting at Colesville Road and Wayne Avenue could begin before the summer’s end.
Lead and embedded images of the future Silver Spring transit center courtesy of the county’s department of general services.
Edited Jul 22, 2008, at 6:10 p.m.
3 responses to “Council gives transit center financial boost”
July 22, 2008 at 7:46 pm
I don’t think many people are going to miss seeing a “commuter-services store” on their way to the bus or train. Put the money into buses and trains. I went into the current “service” center across Colesville this Spring to ask about the bus route cuts. Nobody in the place and any info. A potted plant would have been more useful. All this transit rider needs is a machine to sell SmarTrip cards and I’m on my way.
July 22, 2008 at 9:13 pm
I gotta say that I’ll miss a hut in that spot, whether it’s a commuter store or a police station, and especially if it’s a donut shop. I think it would have given me a sense of security (no matter how false) while walking in that area after dark.
Mmmm … donuts!
July 23, 2008 at 9:33 am
Don’t they have to lease the property for the current store? and wouldn’t they save money in the long term if they don’t have to keep leasing…???
Holler back