TD Bank posts Coming Soon signage at future Wisconsin Avenue location (Photos)

The troll commenter who asked why my preview of the TD Bank in North Bethesda was relevant now sounds twice as foolish. TD Bank has posted its first public promotional signage for the first of two banks it is opening in downtown Bethesda in the next year. This one is at the famous former location of Bethesda's "last gas" prior to the Beltway heading northbound on Wisconsin Avenue.

Looking toward the
DoubleTree hotel
across Wisconsin from
the future bank site

See it to believe it: Bethesda gas station becomes a grassy field (Photos)

The site of Bethesda's famous "last gas" before the Beltway has devolved into a grassy field. In a decision as bizarre as the fate of the Bethesda Shell station across from the Bethesda Metro station, this also-walking-distance-to-Metro property is being redeveloped with a small bank building.

Surely this site had more
potential for joining adjacent
lots for development that
would benefit the community
with retail, restaurants and
Metro-proximate housing

This despite the opportunity to combine properties that include a Montgomery County-owned parking lot, and a significant buffer between the site and the single-family home neighborhood behind it, to create a mixed-use development.

A still from Sunday's episode
of "Fear the Walking Dead"?
Nope, just scary MoCo
planning decisions

For now, it is an unused grass field, as nature reclaims the former service station property and downtown Bethesda's gas stations continue to vanish.

PERMIT ISSUED FOR MYSTERY BANK BUILDING ON WISCONSIN AVE. IN BETHESDA

A rumored bank building - for which no documents appear to exist online in the Montgomery County Planning Department system for the public to review - is apparently going forward anyway. The county has issued a construction permit for what is described only as, "NEW BANK," at 8101 Wisconsin Avenue. 

The property was formerly the site of Bethesda's famous "Last Gas" BP/Amoco station, so named for its distinction as the last opportunity to fill up prior to the Beltway north of town.

8101 WISCONSIN AVENUE BP GAS STATION DEMOLISHED - BETHESDA'S "LAST GAS" IS NO MORE! (PHOTOS)

Bethesda's legendary "Last Gas" is just a pile of rubble.

Long known as the literal last chance gas station for drivers heading north to Interstates 270 and 495, the Amoco/BP service station was the refueling savior of many a driver who just realized the tank was nearly empty.

Now demolition crews have obliterated the station.

Contrast the two time periods in the photos below, including the famous Last Gas sign.

Then wonder, what the heck is going on at this site?

A gas station renovation usually involves the below-ground gas tanks, and interior of the garage and office space.  Here, all of the above have been wiped out.

Suspicious detail #1: Searches of online databases for Montgomery County Government and Montgomery County Planning Board for "8101 Wisconsin Avenue" yield no results.  There is no development application on file - or at least, one that can be accessed by the taxpaying citizens. Not even a permit for the demolition just completed came up. So much for "open government."

Suspicious detail #2: Examining the map, you'll notice a county public parking lot directly behind the gas station site.  Hmm.  Could there be a politician-developer plot afoot to turn that entire block into a new, mixed-use development?

Why the silence?

Consider this fact:

Now, when the gas station at Wisconsin and Battery Lane is demolished in the near future, there will literally be no gas stations - at all - along Bethesda's Main Street, Wisconsin Avenue.  Not just no Last Gas.  No gas.

This won't be the first or last time I point out that this kind of poor urban planning poses a serious danger to the public.  I know some people with their heads in the clouds chuckle about the idea that we're running out of gas stations.

We'll see who's laughing when Bethesda's handful of remaining gas stations run out of gas, after a natural disaster like Superstorm Sandy.  Remember the gas lines in New Jersey? The gas shortages?

That's the direction we're headed, if we don't switch to a plan for responsible growth in this county.