Nwe 06 21 2017

Page 1

The NorThwesT CurreNT

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Group targets Ward 3 school overcrowding

Georgia Eastern project slowed by court appeals

MARATHON READING

■ Development: Entrance

on Kalmia Road is top issue

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is, in some ways, a good problem to have for D.C. Public Schools, which faces lackluster achievement records and outdated facilities in many locations.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 with 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 space and closets as offices. See Schools/Page 27

By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer

A major Ward 4 building project that was originally scheduled to begin construction in the second quarter of 2017 has been temporarily waylaid by two D.C. Court of Appeals cases amid neighborhood objections to traffic plans for the site. Douglas Development has planned since 2013 to construct a mixed-use building with four sto-

Brian Kapur/The Current

■ Tenley: 720 apartments

Upshur Street Books hosted its third annual “Bloomsday” marathon 30-hour reading of James Joyce’s classic novel “Ulysses.” Beginning Thursday evening and continuing through Friday, the event featured local actors, radio personalities, academics and others among the 65 readers.

By GRACE BIRD

Current Correspondent

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-

ries of apartments above a groundfloor Harris Teeter grocery store at 7828 Georgia Ave. NW in Shepherd Park, just west of the Maryland line. Dubbed “Jemal’s Gateway” and “Georgia Eastern,” the project is billed as another opportunity — along with the Walter Reed redevelopment farther south — for commercial growth in an area of the city that’s struggled until recently to secure consistent retail interest. The development site is bounded by Eastern Avenue to the north, Georgia Avenue to the east, Kalmia Road to the south and 12th See Georgia/Page 12

Developers outline plans for 4000 Wisconsin Ave. and retail space proposed By CUNEYT DIL

Current Correspondent

Plans advance for 16th Street bus changes 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. L, No. 25

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

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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