COMMUNITY DESIGN MEETING

SUMMARY & COMPILATION OF PUBLIC COMMENTS

Meeting Date: Thursday, July 17, 2008

6:00 - 8:00 PM

Location: Saint John’s Episcopal Church

Georgetown Parish
3240 O Street, NW
Washington, DC 20007

Meeting Purpose: Public meeting to provide the community with an opportunity to

provide feedback on the renovation of the Georgetown
Neighborhood Library. A brief overview presentation was given at
6:00 pm; following this, Library staff and the design team was
available to discuss the project and answer questions. Comments
were collected by comment card and provided verbally during
the meeting.

Meeting Format: Presentation and interactive workshop format.

ƒ The presentation included an overview of project
implementation and a discussion of design options, including a
proposed landscape plan.
ƒ A facilitated discussion allowed participants to provide
comments and ask questions of District Library staff and the
project team.

Attendees: Thirty-one community members added their names to the sign-in

sheets. Ginnie Cooper, Archie Williams, Jeff Bonvechio, Chris
Wright, Barbara Norland, Martha Saccocio, and Elissa Miller
represented the DC Public Library. Richard Levy represented the
DC Library Board of Trustees. Representing the design team was
Thomas Johnson and James Reigle of Martinez & Johnson. Jeff
Lee, from Papas & Lee Landscape Architects also was present.
The following members of the CirclePoint consulting team
attended the meeting: W. Steve Lee and Tosin Durotoye.

Community Design Meeting – July 17, 2008 Page 1

Summary of Public Comments
SUMMARY OF COMMUNITY MEETING COMMENTS

Library User Issues

• Please clarify how the children’s books are organized.

Library Design Issues (Exterior)

• Consider placing street or park furniture on the corner of R Street and Wisconsin
Avenue, NW.
• The proposed design expands the library’s footprint to under the new reading
terrace.
• Consider using stones, bricks or other traditional building materials in the
landscaping around the library.
Parking
• There will be fewer parking spaces at the new library (9 compared to 13). The
additional space will allow for improved landscaping around the library.
• Need more than one handicapped accessible parking space.
• The handicapped parking space location looks steep.
• The library needs a plan for limiting the number of people who are not library
patrons but park their vehicles in the library spaces.
• Parking spaces on the street should be reserved for patrons right in front of library.

Library Design Issues (Interior)

• Please clarify the capacity and dimension of the community meeting room.
• Please improve the ambience in the community meeting room.
• Keeping the children’s room in the basement might give some people in the
community pause.
• Glad the toddler and children’s room is located in the basement where there are
several exits in case of an emergency.
• Will the fireplaces work? [Library staff said no.]
• The periodicals section in the old library was delightful. Please indicate where this
area be located in the new library.
• Please include a dedicated wall in the new library where community notices can
be posted.
• Design should maximize the useable library space by having the stairway take up
a little space as possible.
• Library should install safety features to prevent the Peabody Room from being
affected by a calamity in the future.

Sustainability
• The Library is pursuing energy efficient design elements in the renovation. For
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) purposes, recycling will be
encouraged at the new library. As a result, there will be less trash and no need
for a large trash truck to maneuver its way behind the library.
Community Design Meeting – July 17, 2008 Page 2
Summary of Public Comments
Other
• It is important to note that many items in the Peabody Room, aside from the
portraits, were not damaged in the fire.
• The proposed design looks fabulous.

The Library has identified a location for an Interim Library to serve the Georgetown
community. The address is 3307 M Street, NW, in a portion of the old Staples building.
Build out work on the space is scheduled to begin in September. The Library hopes to
open the Interim Library in November of this year. The renovated Georgetown
Neighborhood Library is scheduled to re-open in mid-2010.

The next design meeting date for the Georgetown community is TBD.

For more information, log on to www.dclibrary.org or contact Archie Williams, DC Public

Library at archie.williams@dc.gov or (202) 727-1437.

Community Design Meeting – July 17, 2008 Page 3

Summary of Public Comments