Council seeks to prevent Novi from becoming ‘oversaturated’ with car washes

NOVI — The Novi City Council is looking to limit the number of car-washes that are erected within the city’s designated business zones after a recent surge in that particular type of business.

On Feb. 23, the Novi City Council approved the first reading of an ordinance to make car washes a special land use in the B3 district instead of a principal permitted use. The council approved the measure with the second reading under the consent agenda during its regular meeting on March 9.

“It will just give us a little bit more ability to scrutinize and make sure that’s the right fit,” Novi Mayor Justin Fischer said. 

According to Fischer, making car washes a special land use requires those who desire to open one to jump through a few more hoops. 

 Fischer said that the city wants to make sure the need is met. However, officials have noticed that a lot of new car washes have been built recently. 

“We don’t want to become oversaturated, and it’s important to look at that because, unlike other B business uses, repurposing one if they go out of business is a lot harder,” he said.  

Scott Aikens, who developed Sakura Novi, which opened last October, said that because part of the site was built on land that was once a car wash, there was some environmental cleanup that had to be done in order to build on the land. 

“The issue that the car wash caused was that it had emitted some sort of soapy substance into the pond behind it,” Aikens said. “So, that created a condition where we needed to go through a Brownfield remediation process.”

A Brownfield remediation process provides financial incentives to a developer to redevelop a site that requires environmental cleanup. 

According to Aikens, it is fairly common to need to go through a Brownfield remediation process when redeveloping land, and it is not particular to car washes. 

“I think the city of Novi and a lot of other great communities throughout metro Detroit and throughout the country just want to make sure that groups that are wanting to open up in their communities, that they’re taking everything seriously,” said Gabe Schuchman, real estate partner with El Car Wash. 

“And we applaud the city. I think whatever standards are being set up by the city of Novi, we would not only meet all those standards, but we would exceed them,” Schuchman said. “And I think it’s important not only for car washes but for any use that wants to join a wonderful community. So, I think it’s terrific.”  

According to city documents, there are currently eight car wash facilities within the city. There are five car washes that are in operation, including Squeaky Shine, Pure Wash, El Car Wash, and a BP gas station car wash and a Mobile gas station car wash. There are an additional three car washes that are scheduled to open as well, including a second El Car Wash location, a Quick Pass, and one at the Grand River Avenue and Beck Road development.