Car Wash Plan Clears Zoning Hurdle In Doylestown Township

DOYLESTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — Plans by a Doylestown couple to redevelop an aging Route 611 shopping center with a car wash took a step forward Thursday night.

In a unanimous decision, the zoning board approved a settlement stipulation agreement worked out between the township and the applicants that will provide the couple with the relief needed to build the car wash and settle their land use appeal.

In August, after hearing an appeal by the couple for a special exception and a number of dimensional variances, the board ruled that the applicants failed to meet both the specific and general standards to permit a use E13 car wash by special exception.

The board also ruled that the applicant failed to establish a hardship justifying the relief requested; that the relief sought is not the minimum variance necessary; that the applicant failed to present evidence to warrant the grant of dimensional variances; and that if the variance relief is granted, there will be negative impacts upon surrounding properties or uses.

The applicant appealed the decision to the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas, which led to settlement talks between the applicant and the township and a revised plan for the project that resolves many of the zoning board’s concerns.

Jim and Susan Lonergan of Doylestown, the equitable owners of 1796 Easton Road, plan to subdivide the property into three separate lots, demolish the existing 13,000-square-foot shopping center, and redevelop the property with a 5,000-square-foot state-of-the-art drive-through car wash.

An existing Midas Muffler Shop and a 7-11 convenience store would remain.

"Everyone knows that property. It's an eyesore and we want to clean it up," Jim Lonergan told the zoning board last summer. "It's going to be a pleasant place to visit instead of thinking you're coming into this run-down rat hole."

Land use attorney Kellie McGowan, who represented the Lonergan's at the hearing, said the dimensional variances are needed to bring existing lot lines into conformity and to redevelop the shopping center lot.

The 1776 Shopping Center at Route 611 and Edison Road currently houses Lil' Dom's Pizzeria, Miles City Vape Shop, All About Vaccums, and a cigar store. (photo by Jeff Werner)

Over the past three years, Jim Lonergan and his wife have been searching for a property in Bucks and Montgomery counties that could accommodate a car wash use.

"To build a car wash you need a property that meets certain requirements. Over the three years, we have looked at a lot of properties. The highest rating we ever came up with was a B. We decided
we weren't going to build on a property unless it was at least an A-minus or better. This property came back with an A rating. We're very excited about that."

So why a car wash?

Lonergan, who has lived in the Doylestown area for 30 years, said he likes a clean car.

"We want to build a beautiful car wash. We want to build a state-of-the-art car wash. And we want it for the community so when you come out of that car wash the car is clean, it's shiny, it's dry," he said. "And it's a good wash. We've researched what it takes to build a state-of-the-art car wash and that's what we're going to do."

The car wash would be fully automated allowing the customer to pull up to a pay station, ride through the car wash tunnel, and then either leave the property or pull around to a vacuum farm and use one of 16 vacuums that will be provided for interior cleaning.

"We want it to be something for the community so when people come in our employees are going to be in uniform. They are going to be polite. They are going to introduce themselves. They are going to be pleasant. It's not just something you're going to drive through. We want to build the best car wash for the community," said Lonergan.

Lonergan said he expects to employ up to four people, but typically there will be two employees per shift. The car wash, he said, would operate seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

At the July zoning hearing board meeting, John Moran, an equipment sales representative with Sonny's, testified on behalf of the applicant. Sonny's is the largest manufacturer and installer of car wash tunnel equipment in North America.

Through a consulting arm of the business, Moran testified that he has been working with the Lonergan's on finding a suitable site for the car wash.

"You typically look for a highway with a minimum traffic count of 20,000 cars because anything below that will struggle to do enough volume and make it worthwhile for the investment," he said. "At this location, you're looking at 30,000 cars a day."

The Lonergan's will now proceed to the land development phase where their plans will be considered by the township's planning commission and eventually by the board of supervisors.