Planners Suggest Less Concrete For New Bethesda Police Station

County planners would like to see a more sophisticated look for the new 2nd District Police headquarters planned for Rugby Avenue. On May 7, the Planning Board will review the county government's plans for the new station, which it's building in partnership with developer StonebridgeCarras. The Board's recommendations during the "mandatory referral" aren't binding, but planning staff suggested using "brick and/or local Bethesda stone" on at least the front of the building. The county is planning to use split-faced concrete and cinder blocks for the exterior facades of the four-story, roughly 65-foot tall structure to be built on a private parking lot at 4823 Rugby Avenue. As the county and developer explained in February, the station would take over about 115 parking spaces in the adjacent Woodmont-Rugby Garage, a county-owned and operated parking facility. There will be a new pedestrian pathway built on the east side of the new station connecting the garage and Rugby Avenue. The county has also said it will keep the existing pedestrian path on the west side of the site. In exchange for building the new station and taking on the costs, the county agreed in 2013 to give StonebridgeCarras the site of the existing 2nd District station at 7359 Wisconsin Avenue so that it can be redeveloped as the Bethesda-based company sees fit. The county for years had been looking for a private partner to help build a new station. The 7359 Wisconsin Avenue station is more than 50-years-old and short on space. Officials hope to have construction start in the first quarter of 2016 and finished in the first quarter of 2017. Via Montgomery County