VBT planners suggest denial of special land use for car wash, restaurant

After more than an hour of discussion at its regular meeting on April 8, the Van Buren Township Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend to the township board denial of special land use for a car wash and drive-through restaurant on Belleville Road south of Westlake Apartments.
The Township Board of Trustees will consider the commission’s recommendation at an upcoming meeting.
The commission stated the reason for denial was because the plans do not meet requirements in the ordinance.
The preliminary site plan for the project at 10525, 10501, and 10401 Belleville Rd. also was on the agenda for approval. Action on that request was postponed by the commission by a unanimous vote. The site plan request depends on what the township board votes to do with the special land use request. The site plan needs approval of the special land use to move forward.
The project was requested by El Car Wash MI Belleville LLC to construct a 4,640 square foot facility to provide express (automatic) exterior automobile wash services and self-serve vacuuming, along with a 5,667 square foot building comprised of one retail and two restaurant tenant spaces, including one offering drive-through service.
At the public hearing on the special land use request, three people spoke against allowing another car wash on Belleville Road, including Mike Suliman, co-owner and builder of Auto Works car wash nearby on Belleville Road. Another person speaking against the new car wash was a property owner who said his property abuts the project and he had concerns about noise and privacy.
Former Van Buren Township fire chief Brad Traskos, who now lives in Sumpter Township, said he believes there are enough car washes in Van Buren Township. Later, he questioned whether the fire department’s 100’ tower truck to reach the commercial building’s second story could get in with these plans.
Ron Akers, director of municipal services, said three letters against the project were included in commissioners’ packet and commissioners indicated they had read the letters.
Dave Shook of El Car Wash said the company was founded in 2011 in Miami and now has 100 locations. It decided to expand in 2022 and now have five in Michigan and 30% are employee owned. He expects 10 more open soon and 20 by the end of 2027. He said 90% of the water from the car wash is reused and the business is state-of-the-art and environmentally friendly. He said 40% of the project is open space with landscaping. El is investing $16 million in the project.
When asked, he said it takes about 90 gallons per car for the car wash and there are from 400 to 500 cars daily. A new right turn lane on northbound Belleville Road is part of the plan.
Treasurer Sharry Budd, who sits on the planning commission, said there are problems with traffic on Belleville Road and that is not a good location. Others joined her in questions about the traffic and whether this business – no matter how good it is — is in the wrong location.
In other business at the two-and-a-half-hour meeting on April 8, the commission:
• Held a public hearing at which no public spoke on a zoning ordinance text amendment to change the language of approval for prior consecutively approved firework stand/tents. The commission had asked for the change, since groups have had to come before them for the exact same approval for the exact same request, year after year. The commission approved recommending the amendment to the township board. If this is approved by the board, the requests can be approved administratively, if there have been no problems in the past;
• Passed on a 5-1 vote final site plan approval for US Signal Properties, LLC, to continue phased construction of its data center at 9275 Haggerty Rd. The company had complied with the commission’s requests on noise protection by putting a sound wall around the chillers, producing a sound study, and getting the rate letter from DTE. Commissioner Jackson Pahle voted no on the motion, after some questions. He has said in the past he is against all data centers;
• Approved an amended site plan for Project Venture (on property owned by Wayne County Airport Authority) at 6845 Denton Rd., which is the land on the north side of Ecorse Road, south of Van Born Road, east of Denton and west of Beck. The amendment added masonry and revised the height of the guardhouse off the main entrance drive by a few inches, changing the footprint. Because of the size expansion it had to come to the commission instead of being administratively approved. The developers were not present because director Akers said it is family owned and this was Passover week;
• Discussed for half an hour the problems developers are having with the Hotel Development Ordinance and its height limitations. I-94 Group and GAV & Associates said they will seek a variance with the Board of Zoning Appeals, as they have had to do at other municipalities throughout the state for their hotel buildings. They plan to build two more hotels on the North I-94 Service Drive next to the hotels they already own. The township’s maximum height for a building is 40’/four stories, but builders using wood frames can only get three stories with the spaces required between floors. The ordinance allows 50’ buildings if they put a terrace on the top, but the builders said that causes an insurance problem for them, with the winter weather and winds that blow chairs. Setbacks also are a problem. Planning consultant Lauren Sykes of McKenna Associates and the township staff will look at the ordinance to see if it should be changed;
• Learned the April 22 commission meeting will have on its agenda substation data for the data center project. The commission also was informed that Camping World and Tractor Supply are having grand openings and Chick-fil-A started moving dirt around this week and will take about 20 weeks to complete its construction in front of Menards on Belleville Road.