Zoning Board Grants Relief For Proposed Car Wash In Buckingham

BUCKINGHAM, PA — Flagship Carwash secured the zoning relief it needs this week to redevelop the Mobil gas station and Dunkin store at Swamp and Easton Roads into a state-of-the-art car wash.

During a meeting before the township's zoning hearing board, land development attorney Julie Von Spreckelsen laid out the case for relief with testimony from professional engineer Alex Tweedie with Landcore Engineering.

The Washington, DC.-based company, which purchased the one-acre property in August, plans to demolish the existing gas station and Dunkin store and replace them with a 6,935-square-foot high-tech car wash with one wet belt and two dry belt tunnels.

Circulating from west to east, Tweedie said vehicles would first pass through the wet belt where they will be washed. They would then have the option of using the dry belt, where interior vacuuming takes place.

“Not every customer uses the dry belt, but if you want your car vacuumed and your windows cleaned, you go through the dry belt,” said Tweedie.

The main entrance to the car wash would be from Old Easton Road, which would be accessible from Technology Way, the new access road at the Wawa.

Tweedie said the two existing entrances on Easton Road would be closed as part of the improvement plan to help with traffic flow at the Easton and Swamp Road intersection. And a new access road - a right-in-only entrance - would be created at the far easternmost end of the property.

Under the plan, Tweedie said a stone structure dating to the 1700s at Swamp and Easton roads would be restored. There are no plans, however, to use the building, so it will remain vacant, he said.

(Jeff Werner/Patch)

“The building is in poor condition, and it has not been used in decades,” said Tweedie. “It will be restored and repaired, but it will not be used. It will remain vacant as a monument.”

While a carwash is a permitted use in the planned commercial district, Flagship needed a handful of zoning variances to proceed with its plans, including for parking, removal of non-grass vegetation, buffer width, and tree removal.

Tweedie testified that the carwash would only need 10 parking spaces for its employees, where 50 would be required under the ordinance.

“There’s no customer parking because you don’t leave your car. The only cars that will be parked on site will be employees,” he said.

After hearing the testimony, the zoning board granted Flagship a variance for parking, exempting it from the
50-car requirement under the ordinance. The board also granted the additional relief for tree removal, buffer, and vegetation.

Flagship operates more than 50 car washes throughout the Mid-Atlantic, concentrated mostly in the Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, area.

The company recently expanded into Pennsylvania with a new location in Bucks County that opened last week at 545 West Butler Avenue in New Britain Township.

Plans have also been approved in Warrington for a Flagship Carwash at the former Rock Star Carwash on Easton Road.