A recommendation for an eight-month moratorium on new gas stations and car washes was approved 5-1 at the Warren Planning Commission’s Jan. 12 meeting. A Sheetz location opened on Van Dyke Avenue in December, and another is currently under construction at 12 Mile and Mound roads.
By: Brian Wells | Warren Weekly | Published January 23, 2026
WARREN — Warren’s Planning Commission has voted to recommend an eight-month moratorium on new gas stations and car washes in the city.
The discussion comes on the heels of a proposed plan to construct a new gas station at the corner of Mound and 13 Mile roads, which is currently the site of The Gazebo Banquet Center.
Mike Wiegand, who owns the facility, cites retirement and changes in the industry as reasons for wanting to sell the property.
“It’s a tough time out there for businesses, and this is a good opportunity for me to go into retirement and do what I need to do for my family,” he said at the Planning Commission’s Dec. 15 meeting.
The discussion about that property resurfaced at the Jan. 12 meeting. However, the commission voted to table its discussion until Jan. 26 to allow time for a traffic study to be reviewed.
The recommendation for a moratorium going forward for the next eight months was voted on at the Planning Commission’s Jan. 12 meeting due to an increase in the number of such facilities in the city, the agenda states.
“This is after watching what’s happened in about the last two or three years regarding gasoline stations, and we’re also talking about new car washes,” said Warren Planning Director Ron Wuerth.
Wuerth said the reason for the moratorium is to allow the Planning Commission to add another layer of review that would require a special land use procedure, additional design and locational criteria and the potential to require a specific traffic study that weighs the proposed addition of traffic and traffic movements, as well as updating the parking criteria for both types of businesses prior to the final approval or denial by City Council.
An eight-month moratorium would allow time for the zoning ordinance to be amended to slow the request for such facilities, he said.
Planning Commissioner Andrew Duzyj also asked if used car lots should be included in the moratorium. However, Wuerth said the city’s requirements for used car lots are some of the strictest in southeast Michigan.
Planning Commissioner Delwar Ansar asked about adding storage facilities to the moratorium. Wuerth said they should not be added so as to not confuse the issue.
“The only thing about storage is maybe there are some things that we could refine on that, but to put it in with this, these are two somewhat related uses, and I don’t see why to put it on at this time,” Wuerth said.
The Planning Commission is revisiting the city’s zoning ordinance as a whole, Wuerth said, so storage facilities can be addressed when they reach the part of the ordinance that regulates them.
Answar also noted that a City Council member was present at the meeting and asked that the council take the moratorium seriously.
“I’m requesting you take this thing seriously. As a council, they basically will decide what they want to do, but I’m requesting (the) council to take this issue seriously,” he said. “I’m seeing it all over social media every year. The residents of the city constitute the city, and they are very unhappy.”
Planning Commission Vice Chair Merle Boniecki was the only one to vote against the recommendation to send the moratorium to the City Council.
“I kind of think for our free enterprises, we really shouldn’t be dictating who can bring what to our city,” she said. “I mean, it’s not like it’s an X-rated club. It’s an actual fuel station. We are the Motor City, and we have the cars.”
Boniecki added that she felt the reason for the moratorium was that the commission didn’t want a new gas station, and the traffic study done for the proposed 7-Eleven doesn’t show that traffic is a problem.
The recommendation was approved by a 5-1 margin. At press time, the item hadn’t been added to a City Council’s agenda.