Image: A rendering of the proposed footbridge. Courtesy of MNCPPC.
Members of the county’s planning board on Thursday couldn’t come to a consensus on whether a pedestrian bridge should connect the Wayne Avenue garage with Silver Spring’s new library.
“This is a classic Montgomery County conundrum,” commish Joe Alfandre told his colleagues.
Alfandre and board chairman Royce Hanson argued that the bridge, which would connect the new library’s third floor with the public garage’s 1,700 spaces, will encourage visitors to drive into downtown Silver Spring instead of using mass transit or walking. “If we make it too convenient for drivers, they will drive. We have to start reducing parking,” Alfandre said.
The bridge also could discourage library patrons from visiting the adjacent Fenton Village area, which the county hopes to revive economically. The county has to think long term — like 20 years down the road — when it comes to its urbanization plans, Hanson told board members. And as Fenton Village and the rest of downtown Silver Spring become more cityish, better ways to access the library will arise, he added.
The board’s two other commissioners — John Robinson and Jean Cryor — disagreed. The bridge would have minimal impact on whether Fenton Village becomes a buzzing hive of retail activity because chances are, library patrons are there just to use the library and not to shop the hood, they argued.
“I don’t know why you’d put a library there” at the intersection of Wayne and Fenton Street, commish Cryor said. “You can’t carry books and then go shopping.”
The county council hoped to have some feedback from the planning board on whether to tweak downtown Silver Spring’s urban-renewal plan to allow the pedestrian bridge’s construction. Staff with the planning department say the bridge swings against the plan, which discourages such structures because they take the action off the street.
A bridge “goes against our notions of how to build a city,” John Carter, chief of the department’s division of urban design, testified. “We don’t have a lot of pedestrian activity, and diluting it is harmful.”
However, MoCo exec Ike Leggett feels the bridge would benefit disabled book worms and makes use of the existing parking structure. Adding parking onto the library site will cost an extra $3.6 million for five street-level handicapped spots, and up to $5.9 million for underground parking at the adjacent residential project, David Dise, with the department of general services, told planning commissioners. Compare that with the bridge’s $745,000 price tag, he added.
Furthermore, it wasn’t the library project’s problem to make the intersection of Wayne and Fenton easier to cross for library patrons, Dise said. ”Improvements to the intersection may be needed, but they’re far more extensive and far more expensive than we’re prepared to do under this project,” he told the planning board.
The county council will hold a public hearing on whether to permit the bridge’s construction in early June. If the council rules against it, then it’s back to square one with the library’s designs, Dise told council members earlier this month.
Rendering of the pedestrian footbridge courtesy of MNCPPC.
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“You can’t carry books and then go shopping.”
What a stupid thing to say. The point of having people walk the streets of SS is so you realize everything the city has to offer. You see Kefa Cafe, you see Ghar-E-Kabab, you see Bombay Gaylord and you realize DTSS (and Fenton Village, specifically) is worth exploring and spending time in. That’s how revitalization works and that’s how a city flourishes. How does that completely go over some of these official’s heads??
“You can’t carry books and then go shopping.”
So why’d they put the Rockville library right in the middle of stores and restaurants?
Sounds like a new game of “Fill in the Blank”.
Sounds like we should close down Borders. If people who are carrying books can’t go shopping anywhere else, a bookstore must depress the economy of the rest of the neighborhood, right?
*sigh* right now I carry books from the current locations, go eat and shop and haul all home – no biggie.
Look at the CURRENT library location – count the length and number of spaces used – you’ll see we are talking pretty low numbers here.
Seriously, just put the money into a pull-in area for those with access issues and the rest of the funds for a garden roof.
Paralysis by analysis. MoCo can overstudy this issue to death.
It’s like the officials are working to make ss suck as much as possible.
Jean Cryor gets the award for the FAIL quote of the week.
“You can’t carry books and go shopping.” Um, really? There’s this amazing invention that’s surprisingly adaptable…it’s called a BAG.
When is this public comment meeting? I’ll bring one of these fascinating items to give to Commissioner Cryor and jolt her into the 21st century.
“Adding parking onto the library site will cost an extra $3.6 million for five street-level handicapped spots.”
What’s the explanation for this?! If that’s really the case, then the bridge-builders win, I guess. $745k < $3.6 mil.
Editor’s note: According to David Dise, with the department of general services, adding those five street-level spots would mean raising the building height. That does two things: It breaks the height limit for that piece of land, and it obliterates the ground-floor retail spaces, he explained to the council. — JD (May 19, 2009)
I don’t think Cryor will be at the public comment hearing, as the county council (not the planning board) is throwing that party.
However, the county will have another brainstorming session on library designs next Thursday night at the Silver Spring International Middle School, Wayne Avenue.
How am I supposed to reach enlightenment if I can’t chop wood and carry books?!
“If we make it too convenient for drivers, they will drive. We have to start reducing parking,” Alfandre said.
Only Montgomery County, MD would design a multi-million dollar taxpayer funded public library to exclude people who drive.
It’s not that they are excluding people who drive, but they are strongly encouraging drivers to walk or take public transportation instead. Every major metropolitan area in this country is doing the same thing with their urban developments…so it’s not only in Montgomery County. Silver Spring isn’t a country suburb, but an urbanized district that must be treated as such.
Perhaps Jean Cryor wishes the bridge to be built so that he can nominate himself to be the namesake of said bridge, as is the new hot thang for these urban structures. “The Jean Cryor Pedestrian Bridge.”
Here’s an article that some may find interesting (everyone else can go about their business):
“Survey: Suburbanites want city amenities” (Washington Business Journal, May 18, 2009)
Here’s the kicker:
What might be more relevant is a survey of Silver Spring residents regarding the proposed plan. I will bet 1. the majority are not aware of the plan to re-locate the library and 2. If told the county is trying to discourage driving to the library by not providing convenient parking, the majority would not favor the plan and would prefer renovation of the existing library which has space for parking. This is bad planning…just like the plan to re-locate the Wheaton library. Renovating the existing library does not preclude making downtown more walkable. You can do both. Libraries are a basic service that ALL taxpayers pay for and they should be easily accessible to all, not just walkers and riders of public transportation. The government should not be dictating how we get to the library that we are paying for and groups should not be discouraged from using it just because they don’t have convenient access to public transportation.
Who in the world builds a new multi-million dollar library without parking?
Here’s an intersting report from a library build project in Missouri:
“In most public library situations adequate off-street parking, accessible and convenient to the entrance of the library building, is a principal factor in user satisfaction as well as the amount of use a library facility will receive. Without adequate parking it is unlikely that usage of the library facility will reach its full potential.” “Parking, or the lack thereof, is often the major user complaint expressed by persons who use the library. There are also reported instances when the absence of safe, convenient parking has been a principal reason for persons not using their local public library. Adequate parking must be available. It must be convenient and safe if library policy-makers expect their new public library of facility to be utilized to its maximum potential.”
http://www.mrrl.org/expansion/PublicLibraryParkingGuidelines.pdf
This isn’t DC so let’s stop the comparison. The area is more like Bethesda, which by the way, has a library with ample parking.
They are not planning the library for the Silver Spring of today or the Silver Spring that was. It is planned for the Silver Spring that will develop over the next 20 years. You don’t need a crystall ball to see that we will become much more urban and car unfriendly. The odds are greatly in favor of a light rail Purple Line with a station at the library. The county is wise to not perpetuate building more civic projects that encourage dependency on cars.
DP, that study assumed “Over 90 percent of the library users will arrive by vehicle” which just isn’t the case in DTSS (although I’d like to see what their comparable numbers are).
Also, I don’t think the county is discouraging driving–I think it’s more “not encouraging” driving. Who wants to encourage more driving in DTSS?
I get the point people have been posting–that the proposed location has some drawbacks, especially for drivers. However, what would the cost be of NOT putting the library there, considering how far along the plans are?
Editor’s note: This comment was edited for content. — JD (May 20, 2009)
DP – take a look at a map of public parking facilities in SS. The new library will have parking all around it (including the giant adjacent garage). No one says there shouldnt be parking for people, they’re saying there’s zero need to build yet another parking structure in SS!
I totally agree that we have to discourage driving and encourage public transit blah blah blah, but how does a single bridge fly in the face of this lofty goal? THE LOT ALREADY EXISTS!!! If we were debating whether or not to build it, that would be different, but the only issue is whether or not crossing the street will be safe or suicidal for people who drive, including children and people in wheelchairs.
In fact, by building the bridge, we are REDUCING the number of parking spaces (none at the library site itself) so by the same strange logic as above (don’t get me started on library books and shopping…) this should encourage transit over driving