County council members plan to roll forward with a pedestrian bridge between downtown Silver Spring’s new library and the Wayne Avenue garage. But they don’t want to be so quick in rubbing out on-site handicapped parking, either.
At Thursday’s meeting of the council’s human services committee in Rockville, members said they were willing to get cooking on an amendment to Silver Spring’s urban-renewal plan that would allow a foot bridge to be built over Wayne Aveune.
But committee members Roger Berliner (D-District 2) and Duchy Trachtenberg (D-At large) also said they wanted to keep the door open to on-site parking for disabled patrons, plus an on-site spot for dropping off passengers. Those options would serve as plan B in case the amendment to the urban-renewal plan tanks, council staff proposed in related documents.
Adding a drop-off location to the library site is no problem, David Dise, with the department of general services, told the committee. Designers were already on it, he explained. But parking on the library site at Wayne and Fenton Street was another story.
“We’ve looked at options for disabled parking, and cost is a primary factor,” Dise told Berliner and Trachtenberg. “Some of those costs are prohibitive, and we don’t want to hold up design of the library.”
In February, council member Valerie Ervin (D-District 5) suggested underground handicapped parking at the planned residential building adjacent to the library site. But Gary Stith, who was director of Silver Spring’s regional center at the time, said parking spaces there could cost $60,000 each. That’s $600,000 for ten spots, equal to the lowest cost estimate for foot bridge construction.
Silver Spring’s citizens advisory board also suggested handicapped parking at a lot on the east side of Fenton at Bonifant Street. It’s not known whether anyone beyond advisory board members has given that some deep thought.
The county council will be up to their eyeballs in operating-budget issues for the next few weeks. However, Trachtenberg said she wanted to have all the details on the foot bridge ready for final decision making this summer.
Photo: The view of Wayne Avenue and Fenton Street, as seen from the fourth level of the Wayne Avenue garage. If a bridge is built there, it will connect the garage’s third level with the new library. So I was off by one level when taking the picture. Credit: J. Deseo/SSP.
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This whole bridge thing seems so counter productive to the idea of street traffic for businesses on Wayne and it’s cost is ridiculous. But I know this has been discussed to death. I am a senior and can walk to the corner and cross a street.
And speaking of wasting money, what I would really like to know is what is going into the “art center” floor of the new library? Isn’t the new Civic building sort of an art center? The Takoma Park/Silver Spring campus of Montgomery College has just built a magnificent new visual arts building and will open in the fall a two theatre performing arts center. Every imaginable art can be experienced in these two buildings and not just by college students but by the community at large. If you looking for an art experience just check out the Continuing Education courses the college offers. They are inexpensive and plentiful. Both of these new “art centers” are within a 15 minute walk of downtown Silver Spring and by the fall there will be a new parking garage on the West Campus. Believe me when I say I support the arts, I am the Artistic Director of the new Performing Arts Center. But I am also a Silver Spring resident and a tax payer. How many art centers do we need?
“But I am also a Silver Spring resident and a tax payer. How many art centers do we need?”
Be careful, if you keep making sense Montgomery County is liable to kick you out. Great points, I wish the people who make decisions in this county would start to listen.
Just to clarify: the art center in the new library will be a gallery space, not an auditorium or other performance space.
Also, the gallery might be used to replace the Pyramid Atlantic building on Georgia at Ripley. (This hasn’t been settled yet.) That red brick building is supposed to be demolished at some point to widen Ripley Street.
Gallery space? Since this is a library, would that space be able to acommodate author events? With fewer bookstores, there seem to be fewer venues for such discussions. Also, would the gallery space be available as meeting space for small groups? At least 2 restaurants have lovely rooms for rent, Eggspectation & Mayorga. However, not every group can afford to have a meal/meeting.
I still say it would be better to build a bigger library on the spot where it now sits. Books, other media, meeting space, parking, walk from nearby bus stop…
I don’t know if the art space will have meeting rooms, but the library probably will. Also, the civic building on Ellsworth should be open before anyone cracks open a single book at the new library.
A gallery space would be very nice and certainly getting a new home for Pyramid Atlantic is essential as they are a major art asset to Silver Spring. However, there is a wonderful gallery space in the Cafritz Visual Art Center at TP/SS MC Campus and there will be another gallery space in the new Performing Arts Center at the campus.
IF (and again, it’s only if) Pyramid Atlantic moves into the new library building, it will need space for its workshops and equipment, as well as gallery space.
Some of the workshops require serious plumbing (lots of water is used in making paper). And some of their equipment is huge — think Spanish Inquisition rack and wheel.