A rendering of the proposed ‘express’ car wash at 1905 Route 88, Brick Township. (Planning Documents/Shorebeat)
A hearing on the potential approval of a car was facility along a busy portion of Route 88 in Brick Township got underway Wednesday night before the borough’s Board of Adjustment (often known as the zoning board), with neighboring residents hinting concerns after some early testimony was offered.
A rendering of the proposed ‘express’ car wash at 1905 Route 88, Brick Township. (Planning Documents/Shorebeat)
The proposed “Urban Express” car wash would be located at Route 88 and Kenneth Place, or 1905 Route 88, which is currently half-developed with a strip mall. The other half of the parcel, located closest to Kenneth Place, is undeveloped and wooded. It is located roughly across the street from the new Wawa at 1902 Route 88, which has been the subject of complaints over traffic safety on the oft-congested state highway. The car wash, like the strip mall, would back up to residential properties on Kieser Boulevard.
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Testimony on what will almost certainly be the primary controversy surrounding the project – traffic safety and access – was not discussed in detail Wednesday night. Traffic engineers representing both the applicant, JAC Operating LLC, a Red Bank-based company, as well as the township, will testify at a future meeting. Wednesday’s meeting featured testimony from Mark Whittaker, the project engineer.
The attorney representing JAC, Jason R. Tuvel, said the facility would be largely automated and open seven days per week from either 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. It would allow enough space for 11 cars to “stack” while waiting to be washed, and between one and two employees would be on site during the hours of operation. Access to the site would be through the adjacent strip mall rather than local streets or a separate entrance on Route 88.
“We don’t need to have access to any of the residential side streets abutting the property,” Tuvel said.
Whittaker, during his testimony, said the car wash would include 11 spaces for self-vacuums on the left side of the building, and the strip mall’s entrance would be widened to 24-feet to accommodate the extra traffic. The project received a “letter of no interest” from the state Department of Transportation since no additional curb cuts or turns were being added to the state highway.
A rendering of the proposed ‘express’ car wash at 1905 Route 88, Brick Township. (Planning Documents/Shorebeat)
A rendering of the proposed ‘express’ car wash at 1905 Route 88, Brick Township. (Planning Documents/Shorebeat)
“We have access from the west,” said Whittaker. “That property has two full-movement driveways.”
A bypass lane will also be added.
“We’re proposing access through our neighbor on the highway to promote better access from the state highway and to avoid generating extra traffic,” he said.
Township officials and board members indicated they were unhappy with the applicant’s plans to avoid placing sidewalks and curbs around the facility, as required by the township’s land use ordinance. Tuvel, however, said since the property will not create any new driveways or access points, there is no need to do so.
“I don’t think we should be penalized with having to have additional sidewalks,” he said. “We could develop this property on its own.”
Developing the property with its own access and egress points, however, would likely lead the state to rescind its “no interest” letter, said board attorney Anne Marie Rizzuto.
“The DOT is not interested because you’re not doing anything on Route 88,” said Rizzuto. “If that changes, they will withdraw that and they will tell you what they require in terms of sidewalks and curbing.”
The curbing issue was unresolved by the end of the meeting.
A rendering of the proposed ‘express’ car wash at 1905 Route 88, Brick Township. (Planning Documents/Shorebeat)
A rendering of the proposed ‘express’ car wash at 1905 Route 88, Brick Township. (Planning Documents/Shorebeat)
About a dozen neighbors were present for the hearing, with Board Chairman David Chadwick offering a chance for the public to ask questions of the engineer following his testimony. One of the residents, Kevin Maloney, shared concerns that the queue lanes which will allow 11 cars to stack – five in one lane and six in the next – would not be enough, especially judging by the activity seen at another car was several hundred feet up the road.
“Their queue line is much bigger than 11 cars when they are busy,” he said. “What is the plan for when you get very busy?”
Whittaker replied that the proposed facility is an “express” car wash that automates orders and payments, allowing cars to circulate quickly through the wash area.
Most of the other residents indicated they had concerns over traffic, flood issues and buffer areas, which will be covered at a future meeting. Some asked about the noise of the vacuum cleaners, which Tuvel said is governed by both state and local noise laws, and one resident asked, if approved, the “Urban Express” name could be changed to reflect Brick Township as a Shore community rather than an urban area.
The hearing will continue at a special meeting scheduled for Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. The meeting will be fully dedicated to the car wash case.
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