Library branch in Tenleytown to be built without residential tower

By Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer 11/21/08

The D.C. Public Library will move ahead with the construction of a stand-alone Tenleytown branch on Wisconsin Avenue NW, library officials said Thursday, hampering a Fenty administration-backed plan to blend a new library with a residential tower.

The library’s board of trustees has instructed Chief Librarian Ginnie Cooper to build a new Tenley-Friendship Library “as quickly as possible” to replace the branch that was closed in December 2004, trustee President John Hill said Thursday in a statement.

Hill disclosed the decision during a trustees meeting Wednesday, surprising Tenleytown residents and community leaders who have vehemently opposed Mayor Adrian Fenty’s plans for a mixed-use project at Wisconsin Avenue and Albemarle Street.

“He started out at the top of the meeting saying, very calmly, ‘We’re going to push ahead with our own plans for the library,’ ” Robin Diener, executive director of the D.C. Library Renaissance Project, said of Hill.

“One person just said, ‘Are you kidding? Does [Deputy Mayor] Neil Albert know?’ And Hill said, ‘We’re an independent board.’ Who would’ve thought they would go against the mayor like this?”

The library system has $16 million set aside for a new Tenley-Friendship Library, on 3.6 acres across from the Tenleytown Metro Station and adjacent to Janney Elementary School. But Fenty wants more out of the prime real estate. He’s pushing the proposal of Berwyn, Pa.-based developer LCOR to top a new library with a 174-unit residential tower.

“We will move forward with the construction of a new library as quickly as possible and accommodate to the greatest extent possible future development on the adjacent site and over the Tenleytown Library,” Hill said.

What that means for LCOR is unclear. The library’s architect was directed to allow for non-library-related development in its designs.

“We’re glad to hear the library is willing to work with us,” Sean Madigan, Fenty spokesman, said in an e-mail.

The mayor has advocated for LCOR despite mounting opposition. The proposal would delay library construction and eat into Janney’s existing soccer fields, infuriating the community. Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh and at-large Councilman Kwame Brown, the economic development committee chairman, have called the LCOR blueprint “fatally flawed” and yanked their support.

“He hasn’t responded to reason and logic and community sentiment so far,” Anne Sullivan, chairwoman of the Tenleytown advisory neighborhood commission, said of Fenty. “I hope he responds to the reality that the library wants to move forward.”

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