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The new layout of the proposed El Car Wash only has one entrance on College Street, with traffic flow on the business’ site leading to the only exit on Woodward Avenue to keep the traffic flow out of the neighborhoods.
FERNDALE — It’s been several months since the developers behind a proposed new car wash in Ferndale have come before the city.
Last August, El Car Wash went before the Planning Commission hoping to get approvals for a new business at 22230 Woodward Ave. The development aims to activate a site last used in 2019 as a Tim Hortons and Cold Stone Creamery with a brand-new car wash.
However, the commission recommended that the City Council deny the project’s special land use application, citing increased traffic and noise pollution as some of the concerns.
In the months since, El Car Wash has held a number of community gatherings to get feedback on what changes it could make in order to move the development ahead. One such meeting was held on March 11 at Les Stanford Buick GMC, just a couple of blocks from where they want to open the new car wash.
Gabe Schuchman, a real estate associate with El Car Wash, said that representatives of El Car Wash have been answering questions and taking suggestions at these gatherings, as they want to be better community partners with Ferndale.
“We want to learn. We want to go implement it. So, we provided as many forums as possible to do that. The different events that we set up, the different open houses at the car wash in Madison Heights, I think it's up to the residents to come to us. We’ve made ourselves as available as possible to come talk to see what else we can be doing … to be great community partners. So, I think we made ourselves as available as possible,” he said.
The biggest piece of feedback Schuchman said they’ve gotten so far is on what they can do to potentially minimize any impact on the residents who live behind the development.
This led developers to reconfigure the layout of the project to change the traffic flow inside, as well as take on concerns about possible noise complaints.
Jim Eppink, lead land partner with J. Eppink Partners, said the developers worked with the Michigan Department of Transportation to change the circulation of El Car Wash with the primary concern in mind of not sending any traffic down College Street, which will only be the entrance to the building; the only exit will lead to Woodward Avenue.
“So, no one turns and goes into the neighborhood,” he said. “It keeps the kids, everybody safe that way.”
Other changes highlighted by Eppink include plans to replace the alley wall behind the car wash and building one that they hope to be 8 feet tall, pending city approval. They also eliminated stacking spots on the site and installed a row of evergreens, in addition to more landscaping around the building and a bike repair station.
The vacuums are enclosed inside a building with a sound door and the dumpster was moved from the main area to the auxiliary parking lot, which also has added two EV charging stations.
“We went five, 10, 15 times above ordinance to make sure that we're not leaving any stone unturned to make sure we're providing a great community benefit and making sure we’re taking care of those residents,” Schuchman said. “If another development showed up tomorrow morning, they wouldn’t be doing these things we’re doing. They’d try to do the bare minimum. We tried to do 10, 15 times above the bare minimum to be great community partners, and that's what we’ve done right now.”
The March 11 gathering had some residents in attendance. PJ Lang, who lives near where El Car Wash would be located, came across the development within the past couple of months.
Though he wasn’t too familiar with the car wash before, he likes the layout of what the development would be now and doesn’t think it interferes with traffic or the neighborhood.
“They got it built where it’s quiet so it keeps the noise down. I do appreciate that,” Lang said. “Other than that, I mean, it’s smooth. They got it now where when you go in, you don't have to go out through the residents. You can just go on the main street. So that’s pretty nice, too, as well.”
At this point in the project, Schuchman said, they want to get any last feedback, but at some point in the near future, they will be bringing the car wash back before the Planning Commission with the changes.
“We think we've really listened really, really well, implemented a tremendous amount (of feedback),” he stated. “We're excited to join the Ferndale community.”
