Hans Riemer Promises Support for Wheaton Library Renovation Design Funds

When Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett announces his Fiscal Year 2013 Capital Improvements Program budget proposal Tuesday morning, Wheaton’s library advisory committee and its supporters are hoping it will include design phase funding for the combined renovation of the and the on Georgia Avenue.

A group of people wearing yellow signs pinned to their jackets that read “Fund the Library and Rec Center” greeted Councilmember Hans Riemer as he entered the Wheaton Library shortly after 4 p.m. on Jan. 9. Riemer toured the library at the invitation of the Montgomery County Library Board, and at a meeting afterward promised his backing in the upcoming budget negotiations.

Dianne Whitaker, the library’s general manager since July 2011, led Riemer on a brief tour of the library, with about 25 people trailing along--some wearing the yellow pins, others without them. Whittaker noted that Wheaton is the fourth most used library in the county.

Spearheading the show of support for the library was Kim Persaud, the president of the Wheaton Regional Park Neighborhood Association. She was joined by others who live close to the library, such as Peter Burgan.

“We’re hoping that the county will put us back in the CIP for that design and concept phase,” said Burgan, 50. “We fought hard to keep the library here and not move it into a concept for the downtown area.”

According to the county’s website, the library’s renovation was scheduled to begin in July 2009, but a county panel had recommended moving the library into Wheaton’s Central Business District as a centerpiece of redevelopment. The community balked, and the “Save Wheaton Library” group was born. The group succeeded in preventing the move, but now, a few years later, its organizers and supporters are re-entering the fray to end the delays in its renovation.

After the tour, at a library advisory meeting that included the chair and vice chair of the Montgomery County Library Board, Riemer said he thinks that the struggle over the proposal to move the library downtown was what derailed the renovation plans. “More than anything, that’s what knocked it off track,” he said.

Kathy Michels, who has urged people in the community to send letters to Leggett supporting the library renovation, said at the meeting that although Wheaton has a growing level of residential development, the community is not getting the necessary infrastructure.

Riemer called libraries a “cornerstone of our government services here in the county,” and he spoke of the vision of a combined recreation center and library as an “unforeseen, very positive development.”

All that is needed right now in the budget is funding to carry out design studies. “I believe that we can afford this at this time,” Riemer told those assembled. “It’s not a huge amount of money, and if you raise your voice, as you’ve been doing, you should be able to get it.”

Judy Lantz, who has lived in Wheaton for more than 30 years, told Patch that she likes the library’s study rooms and free parking. But she wants to see the library expand and unite with the recreation center next door so that they can coordinate programs.

No one at the meeting had good words for the condition of the rec center. Marian Fryer, who teaches there twice a week, spoke about the need for immediate maintenance funding in addition to funding for the library and recreation center renovation project.

“That is one dingy, dim place,” said Fryer, who was wearing one of the yellow pins. “The new stuff is not going to come for a long time, and we need to do some things in the interim.”

Riemer encouraged those assembled to convey their message to the county executive--before Leggett releases the budget. The first public forum after the public release of the CIP budget is scheduled for Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the , 2004 Queensguard Road, Silver Spring.

Riemer acknowledged that the Montgomery County Council does have the power to put anything in or take anything away from the budget, and he promised his support.

“I will fight to keep the design funding in the CIP,” Riemer said, adding that he would talk to other councilmembers about it as well.