Nwe 05 25 2016

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The Northwest Current

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Walter Reed vermin issues cause concern

Final work at Shepherd delayed by budget shifts

art show

■ Education: Council pulls

funding for cafeteria, gym

By CHLOE JOHNSON Current Correspondent

As redevelopment proceeds at the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center, nearby residents want to ensure that vermin and wildlife on the campus are handled with appropriate care. The shuttered Army facility is slated for a large-scale redevelopment project that will bring new housing, commercial space and public amenities, and integrate the closed-off site with the surrounding neighborhoods of Brightwood and Shepherd Park. The Walter Reed Community Advisory Committee, a community group that oversees the project, discussed the animal control concerns at its May 9 meeting. Committee member Brenda Speaks, a Brightwood advisory neighborhood commissioner, painted a bleak picture of issues neighbors might face when construction work requires digging underground. “[The rats are] going to run, and they can run for miles. Not to scare anybody, but it’s not a See Walter Reed/Page 10

By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer

The final phase of the modernization at Shepherd Elementary School has been delayed indefinitely after the D.C. Council reallocated the remaining $12.4 million from the project’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year last week. The District began planning a multi-phase modernization of the school at 7800 14th St. NW five

years ago. The remaining work, now in flux, would upgrade and expand cafeteria and gymnasium spaces that parents say are undersized and outdated. The first phase of the project altered classroom sizes and improved HVAC systems over the summer of 2013, according to D.C. Public Schools spokesperson Michelle Lerner. The following summer, crews put finishing touches on the furnishings; modernized the reception and administration areas; and constructed new corridors, mezzanines, courtyards and elevators. A project currently See Shepherd/Page 3

Plans for Adams Morgan project put off for revision ■ Development: Proposal

Brian Kapur/The Current

Wilson High School hosted its third annual ArtsFest! on Friday to showcase the creative side of its students. The event featured drama, music, poetry, visual art, dancing, robotics and more.

had faced ANC criticisms By BRADY HOLT Current Staff Writer

Latest streetcar plan dedicates more lanes By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer

The District’s first stretch of streetcar finally began running a few months ago along H Street NE, following years of delays spread over several mayoral administrations. Officials are now pressing forward with plans to extend that line to Georgetown, and released last week a revised proposal that relies on more dedicated lanes — as opposed to sharing space with other traffic — than past designs did. Under the latest design, the new line would run 3.5 miles along the K Street corridor, from 3rd Street NE to just west of 34th Street NW, and the battery-pow-

Vol. XLIX, No. 21

Serving Chevy Chase, Colonial Village, Shepherd Park, Brightwood, Crestwood, Petworth & 16th Street Heights

Courtesy of Transportation Department

The line would follow K Street NW east from Georgetown.

ered streetcars would recharge using overhead wires located only under the Whitehurst Freeway and at stations. The goal of the streetcar line is to provide “improved reliability and enhanced mobility” to downtown travelers,” according to the D.C. Department of Transportation.

The streetcar would travel under the Whitehurst Freeway and along K Street past Mount Vernon Square before turning onto New Jersey Avenue NW and then H Street, ultimately reaching Union Station. Under the latest design option, dedicated streetcar travel lanes would be in place for much of that route, aside from within Mount Vernon Square, where it would share the road with other vehicles. Advantages to this alternative include faster service and more reliability, while disadvantages include technological limitations on how long the streetcars can operate without recharging, according to the Transportation See Streetcar/Page 5

Developers of the Adams Morgan SunTrust branch site are revising their designs and have postponed an upcoming presentation to the Historic Preservation Review Board. PN Hoffman had proposed a six-story building at the property, located at 18th Street and Columbia Road NW, that would contain about 55 condo units atop groundfloor storefronts and a 30-space parking garage. The project would replace the SunTrust and its associated plaza, a site that lies within the Washington Heights Historic District. Some community members are welcoming the project as a chance to bring fresh life to an underused site at the prominent corner. But others, including Advisory Neighborhood Commission 1C (Adams Morgan), raised a host of concerns — particularly the new building’s scale, but also its design and the diminution of prized open space

Brian Kapur/Current file photo

Developers hope to replace the SunTrust Bank with condos.

that currently hosts a community farmers market. Several have said the project seems more appropriate for locations like Columbia Heights or Bethesda. “It’s too big; it’s oppressively big; it’s overpoweringly big,” one resident said at ANC 1C’s May 4 meeting. “It’s going to ruin the feel of that intersection. In order to keep the sense of space that we have in that area, it needs to be made substantially smaller.” ANC 1C members said they could likely support something like this building if it were one story lower and less wide, to better match the scale of nearby 18th Street row houses. “It overwhelms See Columbia/Page 14

DISTRICT DIGEST

SPORTS

SHERWOOD

INDEX

SafeTrack schedule

Stotesbury seabirds

Words matter a lot

Calendar/16 Classifieds/21 District Digest/2 Exhibits/17 In Your Neighborhood/4 Opinion/8

Metro maintenance and repair work times adjusted after feedback / Page 2

Gonzaga, Cathedral Eagles rowing teams take gold at prestigious regatta in Philadelphia / Page 11

New poll of Native Americans on ‘Redskins’ could ease way for new stadium in D.C. / Page 8

Police Report/6 Real Estate/13 School Dispatches/10 Service Directory/19 Sports/11 Week Ahead/3

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