Longtime car wash targeted for revamp

‘State-of-the-art’ facility planned on Larry’s Clean & Dry site

A 50-year fixture on Mentor’s commercial landscape may be undergoing change.

Mentor Planning Commission on March 23 will consider a preliminary site plan and conditional-use permit for Patriot Car Wash to construct a new facility at the Larry’s Clean & Dry location, 7380 Mentor Ave., next to Long John Silver’s.

A purchase agreement for the property is contingent upon approval of the permit and an environmental site evaluation. The construction schedule indicates that the car wash would close at the end of June and the new facility would be open in October.

“It’s going to be all state-of-the-art, new equipment,” said Andrew Loncar, a Kirtland resident who would own and operate the car wash with business partners Vincent Horvath and Jay Bannister. “It will be a longer tunnel than he’s got

there. We’ll have a 120-foot tunnel.”

The proposed hours are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends. The facility would have five full-time employees and offer four car wash packages ranging from $8 to $15.

There are nine vacuum stations proposed along the west side of the building and two automated pay stations at the rear. Cash and credit cards would be accepted. An employee would be on site to assist with the pay stations, if needed.

The site plan depicts the car wash accommodating up to 25 vehicles between the wash entrance and the drive at Mentor Avenue.

Should traffic back up onto Mentor Avenue, an employee would close off the entrance drive with traffic cones and place a sign saying that the car wash is temporarily closed. The car wash would reopen once the vehicles clear the pay stations.

This arrangement is similar to one required of Zappy’s Auto Wash.

The restriction was negotiated last year after complaints of traffic backed up across the Heisley Road-Route 20 intersection.

The plan will be made part of the conditional-use permit for the facility, according to a city staff report.

Other proposed stipulations are:

• An employee equipped with an orange vest and flag shall direct all vehicles to continue along Mentor Avenue until the last car in the queued line for the wash has reached the pay stations; then it may be reopened.

• The employee shall contact the Mentor Police Department if vehicles stop at the entrance to the car wash when it is closed.

• The Planning Commission reserves jurisdiction on the conditions of the plan related to traffic conditions on Mentor Avenue.

The existing car wash was constructed in 1967. Current owner Larry Kesterson declined to comment, noting that the deal has yet to be finalized.