Car wash proposed for Cranberry Highway
A rendering of the proposed car wash. Photo courtesy: First Hartford Realty Corp.
A rendering of the proposed car wash. Photo courtesy: First Hartford Realty Corp.
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An automated car wash is proposed for the site of the old 99 Restaurant on Cranberry Highway, along with a lot currently used for parking by the Ocean State Job Lot.
The proposed “Reign Car Wash” would include a single 150-foot wash tunnel, free vacuuming stations, and 28 parking spots.
It would be located just under a mile west of the existing Soft Touch Car Wash, also on Cranberry Highway.
A memo included in the company’s application to the Zoning Board of Appeals by the applicant’s attorney, Doug Troyer, claimed that the car was would be “designed to deliver the fastest and cleanest car washing experience through a focus on premium locations in vibrant retail trade corridors, carefully selected and trained team members and the very best and most technologically advanced car wash facilities in the industry.”
Guy Campinha, the director of the town’s Water Pollution Control Facility, said that there is sufficient sewer capacity to accommodate the project.
The project is currently being deliberated by the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Charlie Rowley, an engineer who frequently consults for the town, said at the August 23 Planning Board Meeting that he had several outstanding concerns about the project. Those concerns related, in part, to landscaping and the number of trees on the site.
He was also concerned about the company’s stormwater management plan. He said the company based some of their conclusions on the incorrect type of soil sampling and ignored the fact that adding loam would slow water infiltration. Plans seemed to direct excess water off the site onto Cranberry Highway, which could cause problems.
He also said that the plan also relied on several variables that weren’t yet certain: Will Ocean State Job Lot allow the car wash to let its customers exit onto its property at the rear of the site? How will the plans line up with MassDOT’s renovations of Cranberry Highway?
Discussions of the proposal will continue at future meetings of the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals.
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