Title/Name/Summary
Fuller’s Express Car Wash - Site Plan and Appearance Review
History
PROJECT:
Fuller’s Express Car Wash 2010-0099
PETITIONER:
Christian Kalischefski;
Corporate Design and Development Group
REQUESTED ACTION:
Site Plan;
Appearance Review
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this petition is to update the appearance of the building at 15610 S. Harlem Avenue by constructing a new façade and to improve site circulation for the car wash use while introducing new vacuum facilities to the site.
It is also the purpose of this petition to establish a cross-access for intra-block circulation between Wheeler Drive and 157th Street.
LOCATION:
15610 S. Harlem Avenue;
P.I.N. NUMBER:
27-13-401-039
ATTACHMENTS:
Site Plan;
Elevation Drawings;
Landscape Plan;
Aerial Photography;
SIZE:
55,170 square foot lot;
EXISTING ZONING:
BIZ General Business District
EXISTING LAND USE:
Motor Vehicle Services/ Car Wash;
SURROUNDING ZONING AND LAND USE:
North: BIZ General Business District - Outback Steakhouse Restaurant;
South: BIZ General Business District - Chase Bank;
East: BIZ General Business District - (across Harlem) Dunkin’ Donuts;
West: BIZ General Business District - Crystal Cove Office Condo;
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN DESIGNATION:
Community Intensity Commercial/ Office;
TRANSPORTATION:
This site is accessed from Harlem Avenue on the east, a major arterial road under IDOT jurisdiction. The site is also accessible from an access drive that is shared with Crystal Cove office condos and Outback Steakhouse. The access drive is full-access onto Harlem Avenue.
The site is also currently connected to the Cooper’s Hawk development inner-block access drive to the south, although this is not open to the public.
PLANNING OVERVIEW:
Fuller’s Express Car Wash is proposing to rehabilitate an existing car wash facility on Harlem Avenue and update its appearance by providing new elevations to an aged building. They also propose to improve the circulation on the site with the introduction of a more defined car wash drive-through system as well as a new extension to the intra-block access drive between Wheeler Drive and 157th Street.
The car wash site is also acquiring a new use. Two types of vacuuming systems are introduced as new uses to the site. The entire north parking field of the site will be converted to parking space vacuum stations under a single connected canopy system that provides a weather shield for the vacuum equipment and the users. These are proposed as self-service areas.
Between the building and the street, Fuller’s is proposing to install a full service vacuum facility. Car wash patrons can have their cars dried and vacuumed at this location. This new full service area will also have a canopy. It is a continuation of the existing services that are provided in the same space currently (albeit more structured).
DISCUSSION:
Land Use and Compatibility
The existing land use for this site is motor vehicle service/ car wash. Fuller’s, as the new property owner, will continue the current land use for its own purposes.
In BIZ General Business Districts, car washes are special uses. The new car wash is compatible with the previous/ existing use. As an existing special use, it is also compatible with the zoning district designation.
Special Use
The proposed changes to the site plan regarding the canopied full service vacuum/ drying facility between the building and Harlem Avenue and the vacuuming canopy self-service area in the north parking field will not require a special use amendment.
Land Use Intensity and Lot Size
While the introduction of the full service area increases the intensity of use on the site, it continues the established use pattern from the previous car wash. Cars were routinely parked in front of the building following a car wash to dry and vacuum. The proposed full service area will now structure and screen that activity and integrate it into the building’s new architecture.
The self-service vacuum facilities in the north parking field are considered an increase in the intensity of the use as the parking spaces are no longer just for parking. However, car washes typically do not require large parking fields, since the principle operation is washing cars and no other office or retail use exists to leave a car parked. The proposed vacuum facilities provide an additional function for the parking spaces.
The size of the lot is 55,170 square feet or 1.22 acres. The usable square footage on site is 51,186 square feet after the cross-access intra-block access drive is subtracted from the total lot size. The cross-access drive is approximately 7% of the site’s total area.
Setbacks, Height, and Lot Coverage
Section 6-207.F of the Land Development Code requires a 25 foot setback in BIZ districts along Harlem Avenue. The proposed full-service canopy is approximately 44 feet from the right-of-way. This meets the Harlem Avenue setback requirements.
The proposed self-service canopy along the north property line is within two (2’) feet of the southern curb of the access drive leading to the Crystal Cove Office condo. The required side-yard setback from lot lines not abutting streets is fifteen (15’) feet. The canopy structure does not violate the side-yard setback requirements because it is not considered a building. Per the Building Division, structures that do not have walls are not considered buildings.
In the case of the canopy structure, no walls are proposed to classify the structure as a building. Furthermore the north lot line of the site extends to the center of the access drive leading to the Crystal Cove office condos. The access drive in this location is established by a fifteen (15’) foot shared-access easement on the car wash site. Thus, the true setback of the self-service area is seventeen (17’) feet and this meets the BIZ side-yard requirements.
The height of the building is proposed to increase from fifteen (15) feet to 30 feet at the east end of the building toward Harlem Avenue. The additional fifteen (15’) feet will create a tower feature for the building along Harlem Avenue. The tower feature will not increase the useable square footage of the building. It will be approximately 32 feet long by 50 feet wide. The space inside the tower will be open and screened with a mesh to prevent bird infestation. The tower feature will essentially sit on structural steel.
The height of the full service and self-service canopies will be fourteen (14’) feet.
Lot coverage on site is reduced from 88% to 83%. The addition of the intra-block access drive mostly utilizes existing paved surface area. However, the new car wash drive-through conveyor way is reconfigured allowing for the existing landscape island therein to be widened and lengthened so the conveyor drive is made more legible to motorists. In addition to the expanded center landscape island, new landscape areas are provided at the perimeter of the drive-through conveyor drive and along the north parking field. Together, these newly landscaped areas amount to a 5% increase in pervious surface area, bringing the site closer to Code compliance and conformity. BIZ requires 75% maximum lot coverage.
Detention
Detention is not required for this project since it is an existing site. The reconfiguration of the site plan improves lot coverage conditions.
Traffic and Access
Fuller’s Express Car Wash has agreed to extend the southern leg of the intra-block access drive that begins at 157th Street. This is an important and strategic improvement. The southern leg of the intra-block access drive was constructed when the Cooper’s Hawk, Chase Bank and the multi-family residential building developments were constructed between 2006 and 2007. The southern leg remained blocked at the car wash site with a stub access north, clearly identifying the Village’s intent to extend the access drive northward.
The northern leg of the intra-block access drive begins at Wheeler Drive. This was constructed through a series of developments that included GFS, Outback Steakhouse and Ethan Allen between 1988 and the mid 1990s. The northern leg extends from Wheeler Drive and terminates at the south end of the Outback Steakhouse parking lot. There is, however, cross-access between Outback Steakhouse and the Crystal Cove Office Condos, which was required as part of the Crystal Cove special use permit in 1987.
With the extension of the southern leg through the car wash site, the block will essentially be linked via the cross-access through Crystal Cove and Outback Steakhouse. However, for a clean, straight intra-block access drive, the last connection remains at Outback Steakhouse’s southwestern corner, directly north of the proposed access point to the Fuller’s site.
The intra-block connection is critical for safe access to the site and to the block. Currently, visitors to the businesses between Wheeler and 157th turn left from northbound Harlem Avenue into the Fuller’s Express Car Wash site and then zig-zag through the car wash property to access the drive leading to Crystal Cove or Outback Steakhouse. In some cases, northbound Harlem traffic even enter southbound left turning lanes for 156th Street leading to 71st Court (east side of Harlem) to make a left turn to reach the drive leading to Crystal Cove. This creates very dangerous traffic patterns.
Moreover, patrons leaving the car wash site, Crystal Cove or Outback Steakhouse typically use the Fuller’s Car Wash drive-way to make left and right turns on Harlem because of the available full access. While the drive leading to Crystal Cove is also full access it is limited by a median directly across from it. (It is full access to allow illegal northbound left turning movements escape from oncoming southbound Harlem traffic).
The establishment of the intra-block access drive will improve the traffic circulation and accessibility conditions for the entire block. Visitors to the block will be able to access and leave the block from the signalized intersections at either 157th Street or Wheeler Drive. Also, the neighborhoods to the west will have direct access to the local businesses without having to deal with Harlem Avenue traffic.
The connection also improves the traffic circulation for business operations. Some businesses in the block, such as Cooper’s Hawk, face parking shortage conditions. The new access drive will improve their ability to access shared parking fields to the north, which are currently inaccessible. All of these attributes will serve to increase the property values for the businesses in the block.
The petitioner has agreed to indicate the intra-block access drive on their site plan. However, the cost of construction is dependant on the ability of neighboring land owners that need cross-access connections and shared parking opportunities to participate in the construction and maintenance of the access drive. The Village is currently seeking input from the neighboring property owners to the south to establish a consensus with regard to the proposed intra-block access drive.
Parking and Car Wash Drive-Through
The parking field on the Fuller’s Express Car Wash site currently consists of 32 parking spaces-twenty (20) in the north parking field and approximately twelve (12) just south of the building. Section 6-306 of the Land Development Code requires that car washes have enough parking spaces for their employees (one per employee). Fuller’s Express Car Wash will use the existing parking spaces on site and modify them to introduce vacuum facilities over the spaces with a canopy in the north parking field. (The vacuums will hang from the canopies and be “drawn-down” to the vehicles by the vacuum users). This is considered a compatible/ accessory use to the car wash.
Parking for Fuller’s employees will presumably be along the south side of the building. The drive way at that location is 24 feet wide and is one way. Twelve parking spaces currently exist at that location.
The petitioner should mark the north parking field spaces as available for parking for any site visitors not coming to use vacuums or get a car wash (e.g. to meet the front office etc.).
The full service vacuum area should be clearly marked as available for accessible vacuuming. The north parking field vacuums are not marked for accessible vacuuming because it would require persons in wheelchairs, for example, to go around the rear of their cars into the drive-aisle where vehicles will be driving to queue in the car wash stalls and the vacuum stalls. This was considered unsafe by the petitioner. The full service bays can accommodate such patrons.
Table 6-306(B) requires that car washes have three (3) stacking spaces per stall, plus one (1) per employee. Fuller’s is proposing three (3) stalls with stacking for four (4) cars in the inner stall and stacking for seven (7) cars in the middle and outer stalls. The car wash stalls begin with automated teller machines that order patrons for car wash, allowing one car at a time to queue in the conveyor drive. While this is more than is required for stacking, the space used by the stall stacking does not interfere with the circulation patterns of the site or any accessibility to the building (including overhead garage doors).
Pedestrian Connection
As a car wash facility, the site is automobile oriented. However, the petitioner has agreed to install a clearly defined pedestrian access route to the building from Harlem Avenue. This connects the site to other establishments, like restaurants on Harlem, for site visitors and workers.
Landscaping and Buffering
The intra-block access drive will be constructed on largely existing pavement on the west property line of the Fuller’s site. This area currently does not have a bufferyard. The bufferyard that is there belongs to the Crystal Cove Office condo. The installation and construction of the intra-block office drive serves a larger strategic safety and circulation goal for the block. This means that the bufferyard requirement for the west property line remains unchanged from the existing conditions and improvements are not necessary.
At the west edge of the north bufferyard, the intra-block access drive cuts through to connect to the drive leading to the office condo. It will eventually cut through the Outback landscape bufferyard. To offset the cut through, Fuller’s is augmenting the landscaping at the west end of the parking field and creating a new parking lot landscape island to ‘cap-off’ the parking. While the garbage enclosure will locate in that parking lot landscape island, it should be positioned such that it does not create pinch-point with the access drive. Even with the garbage enclosure located in the landscape island, there is enough area to replace the bushes that are removed from the site for the access drive connection.
Two (2) trees will be removed to install the intra-block access drive. However, the landscape plan indicates up to 22 new trees as mitigation and for site upgrade.
Conveyor Drive Pinch Point
The intra-block access drive and the conveyor drive leading to the car wash facilities are tangent to one another at the very west edge of the conveyor drive. On the site plan, this creates a pinch point. According to the architect there is approximately an eighteen (18”) inch grade change (1.5 feet) between the conveyor drive and the access drive. The grade change is a result of the conveyor drive’s pitch that accommodates the sharp left turn through to the car wash facilities.
The petitioner has proposed a small retaining wall with a tall curb at that location (18 inches) to accommodate the grade change. However, there is concern that over time, snow removal and general wear and tear will cause the curb and retaining wall to deteriorate. While this is a maintenance issue to be resolved by the property owner, it also creates a challenge for motorists that may not realize the grade change and seek an exit to the conveyor drive where other motorists may not be expecting them. To resolve this, the petitioner should install a decorative railing to prevent any potential escape and to clearly mark the grade change and curb area.
Building Elevations
The existing elevations of the building will remain under the new façade treatments. The blue awnings will be removed to make space for the new structural steel that will outline the façade of the building. The structural steel will create the support for the new tower feature mentioned earlier in the report. It will also provide the link between the full service area’s canopy and the building architecture. The roof system will be made of copper metallic roof materials. The same steel and copper metallic materials will be used for the canopy over the north parking field.
The materials of the walls of the tower feature where the signs will locate are not listed in the plans. It appears from the renderings that they will be the same materials as the fascia of the canopies-an almond color metal material. The petitioner should clarify what these materials are prior to appearing before the Committee.
Two sets of storefront windows and doors will be added for the front office area of the car wash facility. The first set of windows and door will be on the front facing Harlem Avenue. The windows will be on each side of the door and three transom panes will cap the two windows and door. The same arrangement will be on the north façade of the building at the east corner. This will provide new transparency to the building and improve day-lighting conditions in the offices.
On the north façade of the building, approximately eight (8’) feet west of the existing overhead door, a new overhead door will be installed.
Finally, new black metal coping will be added to the entire building.
All building code related items must be met for this project, including the structural designs of the canopies and tower features for lateral uplift.
Garbage and other Enclosures
The garbage enclosure will be made of matching brick masonry, similar to that found on the building. It will be located at the west end of the north parking field. The site plan indicates that it will also house the vacuum engine equipment required for the vacuums in the canopy. At the east end of the parking field, a similar vacuum equipment enclosure is located, made of the same materials as the garbage enclosure.
Lighting
The submitted lighting plan indicates the petitioner’s intent to install LED parking lot lighting. The proposed LED are 60% more energy efficient than the existing yard lighting. According to the petitioner, they produce safer lighting in terms of true color and produce less foot candles than the existing lighting. As a result, the proposed plan will meet the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code.
Utility Conduits
The project does not propose to expose any utility conduits on the building. However, any conduits associated with the vacuum canopies must be screened from view from neighboring properties and the right-of-way.
Signage
Signage is a separate review process. The signs for Fuller’s Express Car Wash must meet the requirements of Section 6-307 of the Land Development Code.
This case will go before the Development Services/Planning Committee for review prior
to being sent to the Board of Trustees for final review/approval.
Recommended Action/Motion
I move to accept as findings of fact of this Plan Commission the findings of fact set forth in this staff report dated April 13, 2010
and
I move to recommend to the Village Board of Trustees to approve the site plan for Fuller’s Express Car Wash titled “Proposed Site Plan Fuller’s $3 Express Car Wash”, prepared by Corporate Design and Development Group, job number D09059, dated 12-11-09, last revised 4-1-10, sheet number A001, subject to the following conditions:
1. That signage is posted at the north parking field indicating non-car wash and non-vacuum patrons may park in the north parking field to access the front office;
2. That the full service vacuum area be clearly marked as available for accessible vacuuming;
3. That the garbage enclosure be positioned such that it does not create a pinch-point with the intra-block access drive;
4. That the petitioner install a decorative railing to clearly mark the grade change and curb area between the conveyor drive and the access drive and to prevent any potential escape from the conveyor drive onto the access drive;
5. That the petitioner identifies where employee parking will take place on the site plan;
And
I move to recommend to the Village Board of Trustees to approve the elevations for Fuller’s Express Car Wash titled “Elevations Fuller’s Car Wash”, prepared by the same, same job number, dated 12-16-09, last revised 4-1-10, sheet numbers A201 and A203 (Canopy Elevations), and elevations titled “Signage & Trash Enclosure”, prepared by the same, dated 12-16-09, last revised 4-1-10, sheet number G101, subject to the following conditions:
6. That the petitioner clarifies the materials of the tower feature’s walls prior to attending Committee;
7. That the Fuller’s Express Car Wash signage meet the requirements of Section 6-307 of the Land Development Code subject to a separate signage review.