Lake Forest City Council Rejects Car Wash Proposal

LAKE FOREST, IL —The Lake Forest City Council rejected a plan for a car wash at the corner of Everett and Waukegan road Monday in front of a standing room only crowd. Aldermen voted 7-0 , with one absence, to deny an application for a special use permit that would have allowed the Missouri-based Waterway company to develop a 1.5 acre car wash, gas station and convenience store on a west Lake Forest site that has sat vacant for years, the Lake Forester reported.

The project faced stiff opposition from neighbors, some of whom formed a group calling itself the Lake Forest Integrity Caucus. They pointed out the site was already surrounded a train crossing, a church and private elementary school.

The Lake Forest man who owns the property told Pioneer Press he was disappointed with the result of the process, which was presented to the plan commission in October 2015.

The proposal for the commercially zoned property, formerly the site of a gas station and hardware store, was approved by plan commissioners in November 2017 and passed on first reading by the City Council in December 2017 before receiving a positive recommendation from the building review board in June.

“The past two-and-half years have shown that it is not easy to do business in the city of Lake Forest,” Alexander “Sandy” Stuart told the paper.

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Watch: Lake Forest aldermen discuss reasons for opposing car wash