By Brian Trompeter
Fairfax County project leaders have modified their plans for the new Patrick Henry Library and parking garage, and the results largely pleased Vienna Town Council members during a Nov. 13 briefing.
County officials plan to build a new, state-of-the-art library at the 1.43-acre site at 101 Maple Ave., E., and are partnering with the town of Vienna to jointly fund a new parking structure behind the new library, resulting in 125 parking spaces for the library and 84 for the town.
Vienna officials long have sought to build a municipal-parking structure in the town’s center. Two previous public-private partnerships to do so fell through.
County officials have met with the town’s Board of Architectural Review (BAR) and made several design tweaks at their behest, said project manager Maryam Mostamandi of the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services.
“They were very happy with the changes that we showed them,” she said. “There’s no need for another work session.”
The design team has moved the parking structure’s entrance farther east, toward the back of the garage, which will make it safer for cars to turn into.
“The site itself is quite compact,” she said. “Because of the programmatic requirements, we are covering most of the site with the building.”
Revised designs call for a much wider sidewalk with brick pavers and the relocation of an existing bus stop to a point farther north, Mostamandi said. Engraved bricks on the current sidewalk will be saved and reinstalled on the new one, she said.
Rooftop photovoltaic panels will not be visible from the building’s front. Proposed skylights on the canopy over the entrance have been eliminated in favor of pendant lights, Mostamandi said.
At the BAR’s suggestion, project leaders are leaning toward a red brick deemed “Old Lexington” for the building’s cladding. The library’s name will be installed on both its Maple Avenue and Center Street frontages.
Council members Howard Springsteen and Charles Anderson said they liked the design changes and Anderson encouraged project officials to continue pressing for excellence in architectural design.
Council member Ray Brill Jr. questioned if project leaders were pursuing a futuristic design for the library. Mostamandi responded that officials had tried to honor traditional designs via building materials and roof lines.
“In our opinion, it fits in the site,” she said.
Council member Nisha Patel did not like one change, which had been suggested by the project’s value-engineering team, to add more brick and have fewer windows in the library’s children’s area.
The current 13,800-square-foot library was constructed in 1971 and expanded in 1995. The facility has outdated building systems and its building layout and 62 parking spaces are insufficient, officials said.
The new library would maintain access to Vienna Elementary School’s property next door, using a newly created drive aisle from Maple Avenue.
Council member Ed Somers said he would have preferred a two-story library and hoped the building could obtain greater setbacks from the street.
“I think it’s still too close,” he said. “I’d like people to be able to walk and ride bikes safely . . . I want to preserve as much sidewalk as possible.”
The new facility would have a “net-zero” energy design, including geothermal heating and cooling, that would aim to cut energy usage by 50 percent. County officials hope the facility could achieve Gold certification under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.
The agreement with the county allows Vienna officials to opt out, but imposes higher financial penalties as the project moves forward. The Town Council on Oct. 23 voted again to continue with the partnership and will have another opportunity to do so Dec. 4, but would need to return 50 percent of the design funds if they went down that path.
Project officials have submitted site plans for review and will conduct a building-permit review next spring or summer. If the final designs get the go-ahead, officials will proceed with project bidding and construction in fall 2024. Officials estimate the project would be completed in fall 2026, with library patrons using a temporary facility with limited services during the construction period.
