Tommy's Car Wash Plans OK'd By Fairfax City Architectural Review Board

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — Fairfax City Board of Architectural Review voted unanimously Wednesday to approve a major certificate of appropriateness for the planned construction of a car wash at the former location of Esposito's Restaurant on Fairfax Boulevard.

Last August, Olympus Pines, LLC submitted an application for a certificate of appropriateness for its plans to construct a Tommy's Car Wash at 9917 Fairfax Blvd.

The company also filed for a special use permit with the city to allow vehicle service and special exceptions to parts of the zoning ordinance that require "all operations to be conducted within a fully enclosed building, cross access between abutting non-residential lots, and street tree requirements," according to the staff report.

The city council discussed the special exceptions during a Jan. 9 work session and would be making a decision on that following a future public hearing. The BAR is only required to consider the application for a certificate of appropriateness and not the special exceptions.

Two buildings are currently located on the property, the former Esposito's Restaurant and a vacant retail building. The 4,553-square-foot plot is situated on the corner of Fairfax Boulevard and Lion Run, which leads to Fairfax High School.

"Cars would enter the proposed facility at the right in entrance and be funneled into the interior of the building for the car wash," the staff report said. "After exiting, the customer can take a right to vacuum their car at the various 16 proposed stations, and then leave at the exit only right out area. The applicant is proposing high quality materials including the heavy use of brick and stone. The applicant is proposing stone veneer, brick, and split face CMU in the front and rear elevation on the columns surrounding the interior of the car wash."

In its application, Olympus Pines said it wanted to install mounted LED lighting that would be pointed downward. Although flood lighting is allowed, staff recommended that the applicant remove or update its flood lighting information in order to comply with the zoning ordinance. Also, all lighting should be cut-off fixtures.

City staff reported that with minor changes, such as the cut-off fixtures, the proposal met all of the applicable provisions of the zoning ordinance and conformed with the design guidelines for the Architectural Control Overlay District. Therefore, staff recommended that the BAR provide a conditional recommendation of approval to the city council, as long as the applicant addressed all of its recommendations.

After a brief discussion, BAR members voted 4-0 to approve the major certificate of appropriateness as amended.