MACEDONIA – Not long ago, Cleanland Car Wash opened on Freeway Drive on the northeast side of town. Now plans are in the works for a new car wash to be built to serve motorists on the south side of town.
The city’s planning commission granted preliminary site plan approval Dec. 20 for the proposed The Wave car wash on a 0.98-acre vacant lot adjacent to Route 8 between KFC and the Key Inn, with access off East Highland Road.
The business would be an automated tunnel-style car wash, with a 3,500-square-foot east/west-situated building and a 16-by-32-foot pay kiosk with canopy to the west. It would include employee and ADA parking, 14 outside vacuum positions, curbing and landscaping.
Magnolia Wash Holdings of Charlotte, N.C. is the company proposing the car wash. It operates car washes in South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Virginia, and recently opened one in Brimfield Township-Portage County, south of Kent.
Signs are planned on the west and south sides of the building, plus a 51-square-foot monument sign entering the site off the access road. However, city planner Brian Frantz pointed out that square footage exceeds what the zoning code allows.
Two employee parking spaces and one handicapped space also are planned, and a company spokesman said decorative fencing matching that of KFC would be placed along the Route 8 side of the property.
Frantz suggested the main building be moved slightly to the west on the property, while panelist Scott Wallenhorst suggested the building and pay kiosk/canopy be reversed so the main building would be more visible from Route 8.
In addition to some site revisions, Frantz noted some architectural changes need to be made before final site plan approval is granted.
In other business, the planning panel reviewed exterior design revisions proposed at Gateway Plaza on East Aurora Road, just east of Route 8.
The plaza owners plan to downsize the Burlington store, with a future tenant taking over a portion of its former space. Renovations also would be made to accommodate two more future tenants to the west. Office Max and Petco are located to the east of Burlington.
The main plaza consists of 131,406 square feet, with freestanding Best Buy and PNC Bank buildings bringing the total square footage to 165,564. There are 560 parking spaces available.
A monument sign along East Aurora Road would be altered to allow for six businesses to be displayed instead of the current four. The sign would be 16 feet, 10 inches high by 8 feet, 2 inches wide.
Since the plaza owners unveiled their initial plans for the renovations in November, Frantz said their new submittal “fits in better with the town center look; they have put a lot of effort into making the building more attractive.”
Frantz and panelists said they would like to see some changes to the end of the building facing Route 8, including possibly a corner “tower element,” which has been recommended by the city’s architectural adviser.
The commission OK’d the alterations, contingent upon finalizing plans for the west end of the building and board of zoning appeals approval of signage.
Meanwhile, the panel delayed approval of a monument sign along Route 82 and two wall signs on the west side of the new IHOP restaurant building (formerly Pizza Hut).
Frantz said the zoning code prohibits two signs on the same facade. The firm would have to either seek a variance for the two signs or remove one of them from its plans.
A spokesman said the company likely will apply for a variance. Once the BZA acts on that, IHOP would have to come back to the planning panel – probably in February – for final approval.
In a final action, the panel approved adding 20 parking spaces (4,000 square feet of paving) at Peak Nano on Roll and Hold Parkway to support the firm’s continued and anticipated growth.
Peak Nano currently occupies the building with two other tenants – Hitachi/Fuji Films and BGH Steel. The site’s current parking capacity is 42 spaces, with the addition to result in 62 spaces.
“Our request would allow parking for 50 employees of the three companies, while leaving a dozen or so additional spaces for visitors and future growth,” said Keith Hengst of HSB Architects and Engineers.