Gt 06 21 2017

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The GeorGeTown CurrenT

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Group targets Ward 3 school overcrowding

Group seeks visions for revitalized C&O Canal

HAY FEVER

■ Georgetown: First design

concepts expected in October

By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer

Ward 3 parents and city officials now largely agree that overcrowding in the area’s public schools will only grow more acute over time. Though solutions have remained elusive so far, efforts are ramping up to find them, including through a new working group. Overcrowding is, in some ways, a good problem to have for D.C. Public Schools, which faces lackluster achievement records and outdated facilities in many locations. But schools in affluent Ward 3 are seen as among the most desirable in a city that faces widening income and opportunity gaps. By this fall, projected enrollment will exceed building capacity in all of the ward’s public elementary, middle and high schools except for Hearst Elementary, which will be overfilled by fall 2020 at the latest. Class sizes have ballooned, and parents report that some Ward 3 schools have resorted to using stairwells as classroom See Schools/Page 12

By GRACE BIRD

Current Correspondent

The future of Georgetown’s mile-long section of the C&O Canal sparked a lively discussion last week, where interested residents offered a variety of ideas for revitalizing the historic National Park Service-owned waterway. Georgetown Heritage, a nonprofit group overseeing plans to upgrade the canal corridor, hosted a meeting last Wednesday as part

of an ongoing effort to collect public feedback. Attendees’ visions for the space ran the gamut from a vibrant restaurant strip to a quiet retreat from the bustle of M Street, and further comments will be accepted through July 14. Alison Greenberg, executive director of Georgetown Heritage, said the project’s priorities include restoring the narrow, crumbling towpath; implementing educational devices like signs or mobile applications; and ensuring the canal complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Based on those criteria and the public See Canal/Page 27

Developers outline plans for 4000 Wisconsin Ave. ■ Tenley: 720 apartments

Brian Kapur/The Current

The all-volunteer Picnic Theatre Company, specialists in sitespecific cocktail party theater, presented Noel Coward’s 1925 comedy of bad manners “Hay Fever” last week in three performances at Georgetown’s Dumbarton House.

and retail space proposed By CUNEYT DIL

Current Correspondent

Plans advance for 16th Street bus changes By GRACE BIRD

Current Correspondent

A controversial four-year plan to overhaul the popular 16th Street NW bus service and improve chronic issues of unreliability and overcrowding is moving ahead with some support, though residents at a recent community meeting expressed concerns about service changes. A planning study completed in April 2016 by the D.C. Department of Transportation recommended adding peak-period bus lanes and off-board fare payments, consolidating bus stops and lengthening bus zones. The study area covers the stretch of 16th between Arkansas Avenue and H

Vol. XXVI, No. 46

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

Brian Kapur/The Current

16th Street NW is a major bus corridor, but overcrowding and slow travel times are issues.

Street NW, where 20,000 people take Metrobus every weekday. “16th Street is one of the busiest corridors in the District,” Transportation Department project manager Spring Worth told The Current. “There are a lot of diffi-

cult choices, but ones we have to face to improve the service.” Changes to 16th Street bus schedules are set for implementation June 25 by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, in a “cost-neutral manner,” according to service planner Kristine Marsh. “The total number of service hours for the corridor is exactly the same,” Marsh told residents — aside from a modest increase in late-night service to accommodate Metrorail changes. In conjunction with the changes, Metro is also shifting some 16th Street Metrobus service from the local S1, S2 and S4 lines to the S9 limited-stop commuter route. The S9 will also begin running for See Buses/Page 16

Donohoe Development last week presented plans to build 720 apartment units and ground-level retail at 4000 Wisconsin Ave. NW in Tenleytown, drawing suggestions that developers build more and larger affordable units. Plans call for razing the existing 1980s-era commercial and office building on the lot while preserving its underground parking garage. Three courtyards will break up the mass of the new mixed-use structure, which will include about 34,000 square feet of retail space. Due to varying elevations of the lot, the new building will have seven stories at its highest point, with set-back penthouse units on top. Developers envision neighborhood-serving restaurants and a small-scale grocer on the site. The design proposes a prominent corner on Wisconsin Avenue and Upton Street, with a courtyard entrance bounded by a potential

Brian Kapur/The Current

The project would replace the commercial building at Wisconsin Avenue and Upton Street NW.

restaurant and apartment lobby. Some residents at the meeting last Tuesday asked developers to retain the location’s gym and indoor pool, currently operated by Sport&Health. Project officials said about 17,000 square feet of the project are devoted to a health club; their goal is to find another gym to sign a lease if Sport&Health doesn’t renew, according to the developers’ filing with the D.C. Office of Planning. The redeveloped site will include about 883 total vehicle parking spaces and 325 bicycle spots, according to the filing, “and enough loading facilities to serve the mix of uses.” A curb cut on See Donohoe/Page 16

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Eaton fourth-grader among among winners at ‘Celebration of Youth’ competition / Page 13

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