The Chesterfield Township Planning Commission has put the brakes on plans for a new car wash on 23 Mile Road.
The planning commission voted 5-4 on April 2 to deny a special land use request from Mister Car Wash for a new location at the Big Boy site on 23 Mile Road, east of Interstate 94. The denial was based on the following findings, according to the draft meeting minutes:
• The proposal does not satisfy with Section 6.2.B.6 of the township’s zoning ordinance, which states the proposed use is necessary for the public convenience at the proposed location.
• The proposal does not meet all eight standards of the proposed special land use.
“For the life of me I am just trying to figure out how that is the best location potentially for a car wash,” said commission member Marc Reneau, who made the motion.
“This might’ve been the toughest review I think I’ve done in all my tenure here,” he added.
The motion was supported by Vice-Chairman Carl Leonard, who said he thinks there’s probably another location in the township that could handle a car wash.
“It was really tough for the township to turn down a $7 million investment into our community, but there’s always a right way and a not so right way to get that investment,” Leonard said.
“I hope maybe this will come back around. … This one was tough, and it just didn’t seem right and it didn’t meet the requirements for the special land use.”
The four dissenting votes were cast by Secretary/ZBA Liaison Rick LaBelle and members Brian Carr, James Klonowski and Richard Brouckaert.
“From a site plan perspective I think it’s well done and fits well within that site,” Carr said.
The car wash chain is expected to appeal the planning commission’s decision to the Zoning Board of Appeals.
The site plan proposed by Mister Car Wash included razing the existing Big Boy restaurant to make way for a 6,530-square-foot tunnel-type car wash building with an attendant hut, pay kiosks and exterior self-serve vacuum stations. The proposed site is about 600 feet from Mr. C’s Car Wash. The owners of that business have been vocal in their opposition to the proposed development.
“You put a car wash — I don’t care who it is — 600 feet away from another car wash, that value of that property is not worth as much,” said Vito Catalfio, an owner of Mr. C’s Car Wash, during public comments at the April 2 meeting.
“We’ve got plenty of the same services,” he added.
Chris Campbell, senior project manager for Mister Car Wash, disagreed.
“Yes, we both wash cars, but we believe we have very different business models,” he said.
Campbell also pointed to the special land use approved last year for a Chick-fil-A on 23 Mile Road, west of Gratiot Avenue.
“There’s 15 to 20 restaurants within a stone’s throw of that,” he said. “This country was kind of founded on that competition.”
A handful of residents also spoke in opposition to the proposal during public comments.
“We need to think about 23 Mile and have separation between likeminded businesses,” resident Robert Sergott said. “As we progress with new businesses we also need to protect 23 Mile because if it is developing, we do not need a vacant car wash, and I don’t see how one’s going to survive if you have two next to each other.”
Township Attorney Christine Anderson clarified the requirements for special land use approval.
“You cannot choose one business over another,” she said. “And whether or not the market is saturated, whether or not one business is going to make more money than another is not something you’re looking at. You’re looking at the land use in general.”
“In order to approve the special land use, you need to find affirmatively as to all eight (standards), and your decision needs to be based on facts, figures, data that was presented at the public hearing or provided to the commission prior to the public hearing,” she added.
Several commission members agreed the decision was a tough one to make. Prior to the denial, a motion made by Brouckaert to approve the request failed in a 5-4 vote.
“This one was tough,” Brouckaert said at the end of the meeting. “A 9-nothing vote, I don’t think anybody expected that. But, if anything, it demonstrates the independence. … My job isn’t to come up here and vote no or deny things. My job is to consider all the facts and have my other commissioners do the same thing, and together we make a decision.”
Brian Scott DeMuynck, board liaison, thanked the commission members for their opinions and votes.
“I know this was a tough one. It was a tough one for me, too,” he said. “I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of this, just like if we would’ve passed it we wouldn’t have heard the last of it.”
Big Boy’s longtime owner, George Curis, is looking to retire. At a public hearing in March, he said offers to buy the property have all come from existing car washes.
Mister Car Wash, based in Tucson, Arizona, is the largest operator of car washes in the country. The business opened its first location in Houston, Texas, in 1969 and now washes 90 million cars annually at more than 470 locations in 21 states. There are 30 locations in Michigan.
