Gt 04 12 2017

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The GeorGeTown CurrenT

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Vol. XXVI, No. 36

Serving Burleith, Foxhall, Georgetown, Georgetown Reservoir & Glover Park

Mayor’s budget sees mixed reactions

EGG-CELLENT

■ D.C. Council: Northwest

members generally favorable

By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer

Mayor Muriel Bowser’s $13.8 billion budget proposal for fiscal year 2018 — the largest in the city’s history — drew its fair share of strong reactions on both ends of the spectrum when she unveiled it last Tuesday. But with a few days to process its contents, the overall

tenor of feedback, in Northwest specifically, has been slightly more measured. D.C. Council members in the city’s poorest wards, including Ward 8’s Trayon White and Ward 7’s Vincent Gray, offered strong rebukes at a testy forum last Thursday, suggesting that Bowser hasn’t followed through on promises to help the city’s disadvantaged populations. On the other hand, the representatives of the council’s four Northwest wards — Ward 1’s Brianne Nadeau,

Ward 2’s Jack Evans, Ward 3’s Mary Cheh and Ward 4’s Brandon Todd — have generally praised the mayor’s approach despite some concerns over details. Details on some budget items continue to trickle in. For instance, the Office on Aging budget includes long-sought funding for a “virtual senior wellness center” service network that would cover wards 2 and 3, according to agency spokesperson Karen Dorbin. But the exact amount of funding See Budget/Page 3

Whole Foods won’t estimate opening date By BRADY HOLT Current Staff Writer

Brian Kapur/The Current

Tudor Place Historic House and Garden hosted its 10th annual “Eggstravaganza!” on Saturday. The event featured an egg hunt, an egg roll contest, traditional games from the past and a chance to take photos with the Easter Bunny.

After Whole Foods Market abruptly closed its Glover Park store for renovations last month, the biggest question has been the reopening date. But much to the disappointment of attendees at last Thursday’s meeting of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3B (Glover Park, Cathedral Heights), Whole Foods officials haven’t even finalized their plans for the remodel and declined to offer any hints on how long the process could take. “We wish we had a number we could put on it, but we don’t want to make any guesses,” said Todd Schrecengost, the company’s regional marketing team leader. “There’s a lot that goes into the remodeling process. We don’t want to estimate and then get anybody’s hopes up.” The trouble began March 13, when a D.C. Department of Health inspector found “rodent gnawed/damaged packaged bags of pretzels and puffed cheese” in the chips aisle, along with rodent droppings on the

Brian Kapur/The Current

The Glover Park supermarket closed on March 13, and no reopening date has been announced.

shelves, according to the agency’s report. Whole Foods voluntarily closed the 2323 Wisconsin Ave. NW store upon seeing the rodent evidence, which had also been found in previous Health Department inspections. Two days later, a follow-up inspection See Grocery/Page 19

Old Georgetown Board rejects heating plant proposal By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer

Long-gestating plans to redevelop the dormant West Heating Plant industrial site in Georgetown for residential use hit another snag last Thursday, when the Old Georgetown Board advised the project team to revise its design proposal with a closer eye toward preservation. In particular, board members focused on the difference between rehabilitating an existing building with historic features and reinterpreting such a building for a new use. Developers have characterized the project as the latter, but members of the board,

which reviews the design of projects in Georgetown’s federally protected historic district, said at Thursday’s meeting that they’re more inclined toward the former. “There probably is a path here that is behind a couple layers of foliage that we could all get on and walk to a fantastic solution, but I don’t think we’re quite there yet,” board member Richard Williams said. Plans to demolish all or most of the deteriorating heating plant at 2900 K St. NW site first surfaced in 2013 and subsequently underwent several rounds of Old Georgetown Board review with little success. Last month, the Levy Group and Adjaye Architects unveiled their latest designs for a six-

story, 60-unit condominium building and an adjacent public park to largely favorable reviews from residents, but neighborhood leaders and other stakeholders were more divided. Overall, the board sided with the skeptics, asking architects to return with designs that reflect more careful attention to maintaining the building’s distinctive features. Richard Levy of the Levy Group told The Current he found the board’s criticisms disappointing. “From our perspective, what they’re looking for is not in the community’s interest, is not in fact buildable,” Levy said in an interview Tuesday. His team now plans to review all options

Rendering courtesy of the Levy Group

Although the proposal won public support, the board sought a closer connection to the existing industrial building.

before determining its next steps, he said. At Thursday’s meeting, Tom Luebke — secretary of the U.S. Commission of Fine See Plant/Page 5

NEWS

PASSAGES

SPORTS

INDEX

Ward 3 shelter

‘Power of Color’

Walk-off grand slam

Calendar/20 Classifieds/30 District Digest/4 In Your Neighborhood/14 Opinion/6 Passages/17

Board of Zoning Adjustment approves controversial project on Idaho Avenue / Page 3

GWU museum hosts exhibition showcasing African-American fashion history / Page 17

Visitation senior slugger ends game against Wilson in show of power with bases loaded/ Page 9

Police Report/8 Real Estate/13 School Dispatches/18 Service Directory/28 Shopping & Dining/19 Sports/9

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