Montgomery County’s land swap deal for a new 2nd District Police Station could mean the loss of parking spots in a nearby parking garage.
On Monday afternoon, a County Council Committee will discuss the county’s selection of Bethesda-based developer StonebridgeCarras to build a new police station at 4823 Rugby Ave. in exchange for the county’s land at the existing station at 7359 Wisconsin Ave.
The county’s proposal for the new station requires a 34,000-square-foot building with 75 staff parking spaces.
In order to meet that requirement at 4823 Rugby, a small gravel parking lot, the developer will likely need to use spaces in Garage 35.
The popular garage serves office buildings, apartment dwellers and some retail on the northern edge of downtown Bethesda. The plan, according to an Oct. 3 memo from Department of General Services Deputy Director Greg Ossont, is to move some of the long-term parking in Garage 35 to Garage 36 (4910 Auburn Ave.) which is often full of empty spaces.
The current station, built in 1961, requires most staff to park across the street in the county’s Waverly Garage (7400 Waverly St.). Because the garage is open to the public, council staff noted police vehicles “have occassionaly been damaged by vandals.”
The new station at the Rugby site would include “controlled ingress and egress into the parking structure from Rugby Avenue in such a manner to fully secure a portion of garage for MCPD use only,” Ossont wrote in the memo.
Montgomery County Police, the Department of General Services and Department of Transportation would enter into a long-term lease for the parking spaces.
