A car wash is somewhere between a luxury and a necessity, not frivolous nor absolutely a must-have for a busy suburbanizing region. But the project could be just the tip of the iceberg. The study area covered about 750 acres on an equal number of parcels. Implied, if not said outright, the study warns that, regarding road congestion, if we think it is bad now it could get a whole lot worse, especially in the commercial core.
Much of the 2024 study’s recommendations remain just that -- recommendations. For example, on traffic, the consultants proposed detailed analyses of how a new project would affect the surrounding streets. Among the things they advised was denying proposals that would create significant delays, or “level of service impacts.” It also suggested staggered working hours, where that could be achieved, such as at town-owned sites, and even a shared bicycle program, a la New York’s Citi Bikes, to ease congestion.
Among the study’s other suggestions was a new “clean industry” zoning classification, which would ban projects that did not meet septic waste goals, involved toxic materials, produced lots of waste, or added to traffic woes. The town could also acquire land to return to open space, as well as make reductions in the current commercial-industrial zoning building size and lot-coverage allowances. Outdoor storage, dust and other airborne pollution, and greater groundwater protection were also highlighted.
A requirement to plant more trees and shrubs along Springs-Fireplace Road would reduce visual clutter, the study noted. This concern gains urgency in the car wash plan, whose developer has expressed an interest in making sure that a significant portion of its operations were visible from Springs-Fireplace Road. Were stricter rules about screening in place, that would be out of the question. As zoning requirements are now, there is not much on the books to force a landowner to take this aesthetic question into account.
Overall, our impression of the 2024 study is positive, and we believe that had more of what it said already been put in place, a better framework with which to think about the car wash — and all the other development that may be coming down the road — would have already been in place.