Wednesday, June 04, 2008
HeraldTrib Today: June 4, 2008
I’m not sure how I feel as I go on hiatus after I post a story about the Design Review Committee meeting tonight.
Part of the mixed emotion is that I know I go back to teaching at Montgomery College in Rockville in the fall, and I have yet to do all I want to do with this website. I had a full school year to get stuff done, how much time did I need? However much I wanted, it wasn't enough.
Despite wanting to continue for another month or more, I still must write a final report on the year-long project around which this web site was based, and I must get my syllabi ready. I’m still reading one of my adopted texts. I just don’t have the time for it all, especially since the kids are loosed on the world in just a couple more weeks—then look out!
On top of that, I have notes and ideas for stories that are only half done—to those people who are wondering where the stories about them are, I will get to them late summer or early fall.
On top of the on top of all that, the walls of my house look terrible. I really must paint. I will be paying attention to the doings of Buckingham, but I don’t know how much I’ll be reporting until the fall draws me back. Enough complaining of lost time, already. I'll see you in the fall.
I took a wheelchair ride last month, and I have yet to put all the notes and recordings together into a decent story. That will come either over the summer, or early in the fall. Sorry, Deb, for the delay (stupid flooded basement).
Another is about the new Buckingham Community Center, the building on the Gates of Ballston property near N. Glebe at N. Henderson Road. I do not know if the discussions about it would rise to “conflict,” but some of the people who use the current space—a pair of connected two-bedroom apartments on N. Henderson Road—are bothered by the fact that the space they will have in the new building is 1,500 square feet less than what they currently have.
Also, the space has fewer offices for private discussions. Connie Sherman, the director of the center, worries about what might happen to people who need to have personal conversations such as those involving AIDS or spousal abuse. AHC Inc., which owns and is building the center, has made a space they feel is large enough. It has a huge room for community events, a computer classroom, a day care center, offices for the tenants association and for the leasing and management office. County Board Chair Walter Tejada said there are limited resources to go around, and people will have to make due with what is available. “Once you get used to something, it’s hard to let go,” he said in a recent interview. I had planned on putting out a story about this before the center’s opening in July, but it looks like now, I’ll be asking people how it’s going.
I will be a little late to the DRC meeting tonight, but that should be OK as the Buckingham Shopping Center (the intersection of N. Glebe at N. Pershing Drive) is the fourth item on the group’s agenda.
Tonight Georgetown Strategic Capital will move a little closer to razing the Glebe Market and CVS buildings and replacing them with two huge, mixed-use buildings, retail on the ground floor, and three floors of market-rate apartments above.
This redevelopment of the corner does not go before the Site Plan Review Committee Rebeccah Ballo in the county’s historic preservation office told me because Georgetown Strategic is not asking for a zoning or density changes. It will go before the Planning Commission and, as the DRC is part of the Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board, that board has been and will be involved, too.
County staff confirmed that the budget OKed last month has money in it to repair Barrett Elementary School's playing field. Although staffers originally said the project might get under way in the spring, it’s looking more like summer, but none I spoke with could give me a date. When we spoke last week, the project had not yet been bid.
The erstwhile beaver of Lubber Run still has no clear name, as based upon the survey a handful of you took last week. “Bucky” and “Lubby” tied, with three (!), votes each. “Big Tooth” received no votes.
Unlike Hilary Clinton, I can make THE decision, and say, “enough’s enough,” especially since I’ve seen neither hide nor hair Bucky Lubby since Mother’s Day. Call the beaver what you will, it's over.
My next-door neighbor, Scott Zoeller, called me to the mat last week when I didn’t run his picture and that of the baby robin nesting in the Norwegian blue spruce outside his townhouse. It was a cute little bugger, and has since flown the coop.
Now, Fuzzy, you can say that you are, as my son Harry says, “just a little bit famous.” Are we cool?
The Week’s Headlines…
As always, you can scroll down to see all the recent stories, or simply click the links below (if the link doesn't work, scroll down to find the story, and email to tell me what's busted: heraldtrib@gmail.com --Steve Thurston).
Today's Headlines:
Headlines from Earlier in the Week:
Labels: buckingham center, DRC, environment, lubber run park
Thursday, January 31, 2008
All Is Quiet at the HALRB Meeting
The following are the latest drawings of potential redevelopment at the N. Glebe Road and N. Pershing Drive intersection. The photos are an attempt to capture the same angle and distance as the drawings to give viewers a clear sense of what might come. They are not exactly the same, as that is probably not possible.
The drawings were distributed at last night's Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board meeting. Bob Moore, of Georgetown Strategic Capital (the potential developer of the site) and Scott Matties, of Cunningham Quill Architects, were on hand to present these latest ideas and take questions.
The discussion at the HALRB meeting was congenial, as both sides (the board and the developer) agreed that the buildings are moving in the right direction. The architect is going to try to lessen the abrupt change in height from the two storey buildings of the Gates of Ballston apartments to the planned buildings on the corner (see the first comparison, below, to get a sense of the difference in heights).
The board asked the developer to start thinking about the materials they would use on the outside of the large buildings, as well.
"That will tell us if the clothing will help hide the girth," said Board Chair Nancy Iacomini.
"Quote of the night," responded Bob Moore, during much laughter.
The basic plan with the property is to remove three commercial buildings from the west side of the N. Glebe Road and N. Pershing Drive intersection (the CVS, El Paso, and Glebe Market buildings). They would be replaced with two buildings with street-level retail and three floors of apartments above.
Mr. Moore also said that his company plans to paint the buildings east of Glebe Road and to find ways to put in greenery on that side (the Cassianna Spa side) of the street.
Please find a list of stories below the illustrations.
Related stories…
Labels: DRC, Glebe, halrb, pershing, redevelopment
Monday, December 10, 2007
Correction: Glebe/Pershing Redevelopment
The HALRB meets on Dec. 19. The Design Review Committee, which cancelled its meeting last week due to inclement weather, will pick up the item again at its Jan. 2 meeting.
Sorry for the confusion.
Related stories and sundry items…
Labels: DRC, halrb, redevelopment
