ROCKVILLE — Members of the county council’s human services committee said Thursday that they would recommend a design that plants Silver Spring’s new library on Wayne Avenue (below), with parking across the street.
However, they weren’t ready to give a thumbs up to a proposed pedestrian bridge between the library and the Wayne Avenue parking garage. That structure might contradict Silver Spring’s urban-renewal plan and could be replaced with a street-level crosswalk, they said.
The committee’s partial stamp of approval for this design falls in line (sort of) with MoCo exec Ike Leggett’s recommendation. In Leggett’s scenario, a five-story, 63,000 square-foot library would sit on the corner of Wayne Avenue and Fenton Street, with the pedestrian bridge linking the library with upper levels of the garage. An accompanying 10-story residential project would sit on Fenton and Bonifant Streets.
Council member Valerie Ervin (D-District 5) admitted there was no consensus among residents over library designs. Still, she said she was willing to move forward with Leggett’s idea if the pedestrian bridge could be examined further.
The problem with the bridge is this: A 1999 game plan for Silver Spring’s urban renewal does not mention an elevated pedestrian bridge between the Wayne Avenue garage and a building across the street. Furthermore, reps from the planning board and Leggett’s office weren’t sure if the bridge would be in the urban renewal zone.
“The master plan is a guide, not a mandate,” Diane Schwartz Jones, assistant chief administrative officer for Leggett, told the committee. “We don’t have to follow it if a pedestrian bridge makes sense.”
Ervin also felt the $684,000 bridge could be replaced by a street-level, mid-block crosswalk. But David Dise, chief of the general-services department, argued that residents didn’t feel safe crossing that street. And one woman repping the Friends of the Silver Spring Library said the bridge was a deal breaker for her organization.
“Putting people on the street will deprive them of library services,” she told the committee. “For handicapped people, for mothers with small children … without that bridge, this design couldn’t be endorsed.”
To settle the issue, committee chair George Leventhal (D-At large) recommended public meetings on the pedestrian bridge alone. The council will reconsider the matter after the December recess, he said.
Leggett’s design beat out another that would have set the library on Fenton and Bonifant Streets, and the residential building next to The Crescent condominium on Wayne Avenue. Reps from the planning board told council members Thursday they favored a variation on this theme that reduced the apartment building’s height. This design would have been consistent with Fenton Village’s “shorter profile”.
But Leventhal dismissed the planning board’s recommendation because it meant fewer residential units in the apartment building. Some portion of those units must be priced for the MPDU and workforce housing programs.
Updated: The pedestrian bridge might go against Silver Spring’s urban-renewal plan, not its sector plan as previously posted. Thanks to Glenn Kreger, planning department, for clearing that up. — JD (Dec 5, 2008).
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A bridge between the parking garage and the library is a good idea given the age mix of the people using the library. Traffic on Wayne already makes crossing difficult for some people, and it will only get worse when Purple Line trains are add to the congestion and the dangers of crossing Wayne.
By the way, there is precedent for pedestrian bridges in downtown Silver Spring. A bridge will be built over Cameron Street near Spring Street to connect two United Therapeutics buildings, one of which is currently under construction.
It is the Silver Spring Urban Renewal Plan– not the Silver Spring CBD Sector Plan– that prohibits a pedestrian bridge over Wayne Avenue. Both documents were approved by the County Council. Wayne Avenue and the garage are clearly within the Urban Renewal area.
Editor’s note: Glenn Kreger is division chief for the community planning division, MoCo planning department. — JD (Dec 5, 2008)
There’s already a bridge from that parking garage to one of the adjacent buildings, so I’m not sure why that’d be a problem. (Not that I’m in favor of one – can’t imagine it’d look anything but stupid.)
Since members of the council aren’t sold on the pedestrian bridge, why did they support the 1C development? Why not go for the building that suits the community aesthetically (and allows for more growth for the library in the future)? Jon Laurie said in the meeting that the extra residential parking didn’t HAVE to go under the library, that it could extend under the plaza. There is no real need for the parking under 6b to be as extensive as Dise is insisting that is must be. Also interesting that the planning board supports the option that was more popular with the community.
I saw another view of the winning proposal, and it’s not that bad actually. Here is the link; http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post.cgi?id=1469
Even though I supported the 6b proposal, this one has many things going for it. For starters, the public space will be facing the sun, oriented towards Fenton Village, and has the biggest foot print, so therefore has the best chance of being a succesfull space.
It provides an entrance into the library that can be oriented towards the public space rather than under the overhand with tracks running in front of it. Also, it could be added to on the top if the county puts some miscellaneous office floors above like 6b had.
Lastly, it has the county’s blessing.
Funneling people directly from parking into a sort of elevated back-door to the library might make it easier for people with limited mobility, but the library shouldn’t be just a destination with the able walkers forced to accomodate the lowest common denominator.
The library should be a part of a continuum, and in non-nasty weather it ought to be able to intergrade/integrate almost seamlessly with exterior spaces and external street and civic culture. Giving a primary focus to an entrance facing onto public space is an absolute necessity.
As a mother of a small child and a lover of urban streetscapes, I object to my “needs” being cited as a reason for a pedestrian bridge. No, thank you. I cross busy streets daily with my kiddo. I don’t need a bridge. What I need is a safe, vibrant, walkable street-level experience.
Now, I would never cross Wayne at a mid-street crosswalk if there weren’t a stoplight involved (like the one at Ellsworth and Georgia). But why not just make the Fenton/Wayne intersection more pedestrian friendly? They could put in a “scramble” crossing, where car traffic is stopped in ALL directions for peds to cross in any direction. That way peds don’t have to worry about lunatic left-turners or right-on-red speed demons, etc.
In any case, surely a great street-level solution can be created for a small portion of the $684,000+ the bridge would cost.
Tough issue. I am glad MoCo is considerate of people with disabilities, and appreciate the incorporation of such concerns into the design process. On the other hand, I hope a central aspect of the planning commission is to create a vibrant street life, which means that people need to be on the street. On the whole, I would say that, given the large elevators in the Wayne Ave garage and that the library itself will (I assume) be mobility friendly, ditch the walkway. (Jane Jacobs, I hope, would agree.) At least the commission picked one of the better designs, where the library will be on Wayne, as opposed to being on Fenton. To me, just makes sense this way.