NORTH ROYALTON, Ohio – A plan by an Akron car wash to build a new location at the vacant northeast corner of Wallings and State roads will move forward.
Soak City Car Wash received final plan approval Oct. 2 from the North Royalton Planning Commission. The new car wash will have a full entrance-exit on State and a right-turn-in, right-turn-out-only drive on Wallings.
As part of its approval, Soak City agreed to shorten two towers that were part of the building design after the commission expressed concern about the height of the towers, even though the tower height did not exceed city code limits.
Ian Russell, North Royalton’s city planner, said the higher of the two towers in the original plan was nearly 39 feet. In the final blueprint, both towers were slightly more than 26 feet high.
The car wash plan came with 10 zoning code variances, all approved in June by the North Royalton Board of Zoning Appeals.
Travis Logsdon – project manager with Blatchford Architects, a Cleveland firm that designed the car wash – told the BZA that the site, slightly more than 1 acre, is large enough. However, the size and shape of the lot necessitated the variances.
“The site . . . does taper off to a much narrower point, and that does restrict a lot of what can happen, both with the building itself, where it can be placed and also the drives and how you can access it,” Logsdon told the BZA, according to meeting transcripts.
The car wash received variances for:
Side-yard building setback. Code requires a distance of at least 50 feet between the building and the street. Soak City will stand about 42 ½ feet from Wallings.
Side-yard parking from lot line. Code requires at least 5 feet between the lot lines and the parking lot and entrance drives. One of the Soak City entrances drives will lie 7 inches from a lot line.
Side-yard parking from street. Code requires at least 20 feet between the street and the parking lot and entrance drives. The Soak City parking lot-entrance drive will lie about 6 ½ feet from Wallings.
Equipment setback. Code requires at least 20 feet between the street and building equipment. Soak City will place car vacuums nearly 9 feet from Wallings.
Driveway width. Code requires entrance driveways no more than 24 feet wide. The State entrance into Soak City will measure 28 feet wide.
Number of building signs. Code limits building signs to two. Soak City will have four building signs.
Number of building signs facing each street. Code limits building signs to one for Wallings and one for State. Soak City will have two additional building signs on one of the building sides.
Soak City also received three variances that will allow the business to have larger signs than allowed by city code.
Soak City in North Royalton will stand next to and just south of BlueLine Classics, a buyer, seller and restorer of antique, classic and muscle cars.
BlueLine, founded in 2013 by two retired police officers, owns the site of the proposed car wash.
Vince Horvath – who proposed the car wash with business partner Jan Banister – told the BZA that he will purchase the property from BlueLine.
On its website, Soak City offers membership plans in which members receive an unlimited number of car washes for one monthly fee. Members also receive discounts on second vehicles.
Horvath, on his application to the planning commission, said Soak City in North Royalton would employ 12-14 full- and part-time workers.
Horvath also said on the application that the car wash would measure about 4,300 square feet. It has since grown to about 4,800 square feet under the latest plan.
Soak City markets itself as an environmentally friendly car wash, using less water and avoiding the use of harmful cleaning products.
Horvath said Soak City in North Royalton will run promotions, which might include free car washes for veterans and moms on Memorial Day and Mother’s Day, respectively.
In Akron, Soak City has organized food drives and supported local athletic organizations, Horvath said.