Classic Clean Auto Wash gets final OK

Project to transform former Great Lakes Bank, Osair site

Construction is anticipated soon on Classic Auto Group’s new project in Mentor.

City planners approved the final site plan for the 4,691-squarefoot Classic Clean Auto Wash and vacuum stations on about 2 acres at 6985 Center St., south of Classic Mazda.

“We’ll start that immediately,” owner Jim Brown Jr. told the commission at the July 5 meeting.

The vote came after questions were addressed regarding the potential for traffic backing up into the roadways.

“I know we were concerned with Zappy’s car wash when they started stacking on Mentor Avenue,” acting Chairman Joseph Sidoti said. “And then, when we brought them back, they did a great job of rectifying that problem, and that’s stated in our report that if you should ever experience stacking onto the public right-of-way, that’s got to stop immediately, especially on Center Street. … If you start stacking on Center Street, that’s an awful lot of cars.”

A project representative noted that the car wash can handle up to 180 cars per hour.

“By chance, if cars do start getting backed up, there will be three attendants on the property at all times manning the car wash, so one of the attendants will be able to take and direct traffic,” he said.

Brown added that Classic owns 3 acres across Fracci Court to the east that could be used to ease any potential traffic issues.

Three other car washes in the city, including Zappy’s, are required to close their entrances temporarily if the line of waiting vehicles backs up that far. The others are Patriot Car Wash, opened last year, and the yet-to-open Cardinal Auto Wash. All three are on Route 20.

Classic Clean Auto Wash was given no such stipulation, because of the facility’s

capacity and location.

“Fracci Court is a very lowvolume street with perhaps a half-dozen businesses,” said Ronald M. Traub, Mentor’s economic and community development director. “The site was reconfigured to minimize impact on even the ‘impacted’ businesses.”

Last month, the commission approved a conditionaluse permit for Classic Clean Auto Wash. It will be for public as well as the company’s use.

The vacant Great Lakes Bank building on the site will be razed for the project. The building, constructed in 1977, also had housed Osair, Inc. The site was purchased in March for a new dealership, but those plans are on hold, Brown said.

The car wash will add 38 percent more greenspace to the property and a modern, all-glass building.

“When you drive by you’re not going to say, ‘What a pretty car wash;’ you’re going to say, ‘That’s a beautiful building,’ ” Brown said.

SUBMITTED Clean Classic Auto Wash is proposed on Route 615 south of Classic Mazda in Mentor.