Gt 07 26 2017

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The Georgetown Current

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Vol. XXVI, No. 51

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

Sidwell delays campus consolidation

SHARK BAIT

■ Education: Upper school

to use Washington Home site By BRADY HOLT Current Staff Writer

Sidwell Friends School has elected to delay and revise its plans to consolidate all of its grades on Wisconsin Avenue NW. The private school currently has two campuses: a middle and

upper school at 3825 Wisconsin Avenue NW, serving fifth through 12th grades; and a lower school at 5100 Edgemoor Lane in Bethesda, Md., which serves pre-K through fourth grade. Sidwell purchased the Washington Home & Community Hospice property adjacent to its D.C. campus in 2015, with the intention of relocating its lower school there. The project won Board of Zoning Adjustment support in spring 2016, and Sidwell

had said it would begin renovation work as early as this summer. Now, though, the school plans instead to relocate its upper school into the Washington Home building and use the existing upper school for the lower school — a project that won’t begin until at least 2019. “With Upper School enrollment and applications at an alltime high, the need for expanded See Sidwell/Page 3

British School continues renovation push By ALEXA PERLMUTTER Current Correspondant

Brian Kapur/The Current

National Geographic’s “Family Day: Celebrate the Summer of Sharks!” event on Saturday featured the new “Sharks” exhibit, a mechanical shark ride, boardwalk booth games, cotton candy, educational activities and performances.

Renovations are underway at the British International School of Washington as the 2001 Wisconsin Ave. NW campus prepares to welcome a record number of students this fall. The school’s location in the federally protected Georgetown Historic District complicates exterior changes to the building, but administrators have been working to make better use of the existing interior. Perhaps the biggest change came in 2015, when the school renovated the top floor of its building to add classroom space. “It was a concrete shell,” said Dan Stewart, the school’s site operations leader and building manager. Under “our original lease, we only had three levels. Now we have four levels and the basement. The top floor now has 15 classrooms, a lounge for IB students, a nice new art room and an auditorium.”

Brian Kapur/The Current

The British International School is upgrading the interior of its 2001 Wisconsin Ave. building.

This summer, the school is following the lead of its Nord Anglia Education parent company to dress up the building’s interior. “We’re trying to brighten things up,” Stewart said. See Renovations/Page 19

D.C. arborist reports pressure on driveway

Proposed strip club draws ire in Foggy Bottom community

By GRACE BIRD

■ ABC: Community groups

Current Staff Writer

Following the loss of two large street trees in Chevy Chase, a city arborist is placing the blame on inadequate maintenance and political pressure to allow an ecologically risky driveway. The trees are located outside 5333 Connecticut Ave. NW, where Cafritz Enterprises completed a new apartment building last summer. Michael Chuko of the Urban Forestry Division — part of the D.C. Department of Transportation — said his agency unsuccessfully opposed the project’s circular driveway, which severed the trees’ roots. At a community meeting this week, Chuko said his agency’s concerns were overruled by the D.C. Office of Planning and the office of then-Mayor Vincent Gray in 2014. Alternatives to the circular drive-

protest Effigy’s liquor license

Brian Kapur/The Current

The District says that two street trees outside 5333 Connecticut Ave. NW need to be removed.

way — including a curbside drop-off and pickup on Connecticut, Military Road, Kanawha Street or a rear alley — were rejected by Cafritz’s traffic planner. “We were basically told you have to accept this design plan,” Chuko said at the July 24 meeting of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3/4G (Chevy Chase). “We had no choice, but we were opposed to the design from the beginning.” Upon inspection last week, Chuko confirmed that See Trees/Page 4

By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer

The proposal for a new strip club called Effigy at 1720 I St. NW received a mild reception from the Dupont Circle community earlier this month. But in Foggy Bottom last week, residents and neighborhood leaders peppered operators with a wide range of inquiries and voiced their frustrations. Will the strip club affect prop-

erty values for nearby businesses? Will it bring more crime and noise to the neighborhood? Do the owners know how to run a proper strip-club business? Do they know what “effigy” means? How about human trafficking? Alex Heidenberger, co-owner of Cafe Soleil at 839 17th St. NW around the corner from Effigy, summed up the discussion succinctly, telling operators during last Wednesday’s meeting of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2A (Foggy Bottom, West End): “For someone who’s been in the business for as long as I have, See Club/Page 5

SHOPPING & DINING

SPORTS

CURRENTNEWSPAPERS.COM

INDEX

New coffee shop

Championship Cadets

Check out our new website, where you’ll find more of the communityoriented news, features and sports you read weekly in The Current.

Calendar/12 Classifieds/19 District Digest/4 In Your Neighborhood/10 Opinion/6

California-based chain opens Georgetown cafe, with plans for two more D.C. stores / Page 15

St. John’s baseball tops Moose for fifth straight D.C. Metro summer league crown / Page 9

Police Report/8 Real Estate/11 Service Directory/17 Shopping & Dining/15 Sports/9

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