Government

Plan for ‘Doggie Car Wash’ Hybrid in Brick Will Get Hearing: Here’s What It Would Look Like

by
Daniel Nee
September 20, 2024

A commercial ‘dog wash’ along with a car wash, proposed for 320 Brick Boulevard, the former Pizza Hut restaurant. (Planning Document)

A plan floated earlier this year to open an automated car wash – complete with an automated dog wash on the side – will get a fresh hearing in Brick Township next month, officials said.

The proposal is set to replace the former Pizza Hut restaurant at 320 Brick Boulevard. The unique idea was born in Europe, and made its way to Florida before being proposed in Brick by Cornerstone South Brick LLC, owned by township resident Robert Viani.

According to planning documents, the company plans to develop the property with a car wash building, a structure of approximately 4,605 square feet, with improvements including vacuum equipment and the dog wash, together with related site improvements such as parking spaces, signage, and landscaping.

The building would consist of a one-lane car wash, 23 vacuum stalls and the aforementioned dog washing station. The car wash would be an automated, 4,600 square foot “tunnel” style wash, with an entrance on northern side of site, while a pay station and by-pass lane and exit would be located to the east. There would also be five non-vacuum parking spaces. The business would operate from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, with lights to be turned off before 9 p.m.

A commercial ‘dog wash’ along with a car wash, proposed for 320 Brick Boulevard, the former Pizza Hut restaurant. (Planning Document)

The application for the business must receive a “supermajority” of support before the zoning board, also known as the Board of Adjustment, since the distinctive dual-use enterprise is not specifically authorized to operate in the B-2 business zone. Thus, it requires a use variance for both the business idea itself as well as having two uses for a business on a single property. There are also a number of more minor “bulk” variances having to do with the layout of the parcel of land on which the establishment is proposed to the built.

Car-and-dog washes may be new to Brick, but they do exist elsewhere. A number of articles found online attribute the idea as having originated in Spain, which was where a company first introduced a fully-automated dog wash next to a similarly-automated car wash. Like a car wash, a (human) customer places his or her dog in an open-air basin and selects the type of wash their dog needs – from a simple wash, to a more “heavy duty” wash after a day in the mud or at the beach, or even an anti-flea and tick rinse.

In the United States, the idea was first popularized in Florida, with one of the first businesses of its kind opening in Largo, Fla. in 2013. That business still exists today, and is pictured with this story.

A ‘dog wash’ at the Classic Car Wash in Largo, Fla. (Photo: Shorebeat)

A hearing on the proposal will be held at a special meeting of the Board of Adjustment set for Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024 at 7 p.m. at the municipal complex on Chambers Bridge Road.