Two weeks after voicing significant concerns about traffic capacity and differing priorities for the development outside The Springs at Lockport, the Lockport City Council reversed course and approved plans for a new car wash to be built at the intersection of 159th Street and Adelmann Road.

During the Sept. 3 Committee of the Whole meeting, the proposal by MJK development to build a Mister Car Wash location on the property next to the future Wendy’s was met with multiple questions about traffic congestion, water usage, and the appropriateness of the location.

While the water use concerns were quickly dispelled with assurances from Public Works Director Brian Lovering that the infrastructure in the area could handle the capacity, suggestions that the location was wrong for the business and worries about the traffic congestion – and the noise it could create – persisted.

Both Alderman Darren Deskin and Alderwoman Joann Bartelsen expressed deep misgivings about the project, with Bartelsen calling the location “inappropriate” and Deskin referring to the project as “another bloody car wash in a bad location” while lamenting the lack of restaurant businesses the developer had originally suggested for the area.

During discussions Wednesday night though, much of the debate about the property had subsided.

Richard Silverman of MJK Development attended the meeting and gave a presentation about the company’s larger plans for the surrounding site, which included purchasing more neighboring property and potentially developing it with more of the desired food tenants.

Silverman’s presentation also highlighted his company’s past developments in Lockport, which included Chipotle, Mod Pizza, Open Bottle, Noodles and Company, Crumbl Cookie, 7 Brew, and Dave’s Hot Chicken which replaced Mod.

“We believe that once the Lockport Springs development is open, once Wendy’s and Mister Carwash get open, now that the hockey facility is open around the corner, that national sit-down restaurants will come,” Silverman said. “We would like to take a year to start marketing it at real estate conferences and bring a phase two to you in the summer or fall of next year.”

Attracting more development

Among the businesses Silverman believes could be approached in the future were Buffalo Wild Wings, Chili’s, Lazy Dogs, Portillo’s, and Chic-Fil-A, while acknowledging that many sit-down restaurants are not expanding at the moment because of high costs of construction and labor.

“Any sit-down restaurant that wants to locate here, we fully support it,” said Silverman. “It’s a copycat industry, once someone comes, then Panera Bread comes, the Chipotle comes, then Noodles comes, then Chic-fil-A comes, and multiple after it. I don’t have a crystal ball at this point but that’s what we’re pursuing.”

Several of the city council members thanked Silverman for his presentation and “thorough explanation.”

Mayor Steven Streit noted that “it’s nobody’s first choice for the property,” but also said that finding a tenant could be difficult due to the property’s topography containing a hill.

“Whatever went in was going to be a little iffy with that hill blocking the view from the street,” he said.

Streit also said that Mister Carwash’s intention to build a retaining wall for noise mitigation could help even out the terrain and make it easier to spread the development further east along 159th Street.

“The developer came and discussed it with us to give a more full view that it will help unlock the rest of the development,” Streit said. “If we’d never worked with him before, we might be more skeptical.”

To the concern of traffic, Streit noted that the developer of The Springs at Lockport apartments, which sit right behind the proposed car wash, sent a letter to the city council stating that they had no concerns about project and “felt comfortable with the mitigation and sound walls that have been proposed.”

Alderwoman Susan King and Alderman Patrick McDonald also said the documentation of traffic at existing Mister Carwash locations in Wisconsin also put their concerns about congestion at ease.

“When I saw the details on the queuing system at existing locations, that its not just in and out but cars pulling off to go to the vacuum stations, I felt better about it,” McDonald said.

The Mister Carwash can accommodate 42 cars at any time, according to the plans, and average traffic data from similarly sized locations shows that even during peak times, the businesses usually do not see more than that number in the course of an entire hour.

“It should be fine,” said King, who also said that data presented by the owners suggested a city can support one full service car wash per 7,000 residents. “If we want more development in the area, this has to happen.”

The final vote to approve the plan passed 6-0, with Deskin, who remained quiet throughout the presentation and discussion, voting present.

Bartelsen was absent from the meeting.

Once built, the car wash will include a 4,874-foot stand-alone, drive-thru wash building, 19 vacuum stations, parking spaces, and separate ingress and egress driveways, as well as landscaping features designed to mitigate noise, including the retaining wall.

Mister Carwash operates over 500 car wash locations nationwide and uses a proprietary system in its facilities to capture and recycle water, improving environmental and financial efficiency. The Lockport location will be the company’s first car wash in the greater Chicago area.