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.

Although 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 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 originally had suggested for the area.

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

Richard Silverman of MJK Development 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 include 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 Car Wash 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 said he believes could be approached in the future are Buffalo Wild Wings, Chili’s, Lazy Dog, Portillo’s and Chick-fil-A. He acknowledged that many sit-down restaurants are not expanding at the moment because of the high costs of construction and labor.

“Any sit-down restaurant that wants to locate here, we fully support it,” Silverman said. “It’s a copycat industry – once someone comes, then Panera Bread comes, then Chipotle comes, then Noodles comes, then Chick-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 City Council members thanked Silverman for his presentation and “thorough explanation.”

Mayor Steven Streit said that “it’s nobody’s first choice for the property,” but he also noted 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 Car Wash’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.”

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

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

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

The Mister Car Wash will be able to 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 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,” King said.

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 Car Wash operates more than 500 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 Chicago area.