LAFAYETTE, IN — The rapid proliferation of gas stations in Lafayette has motivated city officials to introduce new rules to contain their spread.
The Lafayette City Council requested the Tippecanoe County Area Plan Commission to conduct a study on zoning earlier this year.
During the September APC meeting, staff presented its proposal to limit the types of zoning that would allow the construction of gas stations, adding requirements on building structure, distance from homes and distance from rights-of-way. The regulations will be addressed by local councils beginning next week.
Additional language in the ordinance amendment would require decommissioning plans for not only gas stations, but for oil change businesses and car washes, too.
The addition of a decommissioning plan requirement, Lafayette City Attorney Jacque Chosnek said, helps to target specific features seen at car washes and oil change businesses, such as vacuums, that would need to be taken out for a new business to go into that location.
The growth of the car wash market in Lafayette over the last year, Chosnek said, surprised city leaders. But the requirements that will be voted on during Monday’s council meeting are as far as the city plans to go, at least for now.
“I think right now this is enough,” Chosnek said. “If (car washes) continue to come about at such a significant rate, we may say otherwise, but decommissioning standards help us in meeting our goals for the city as it continues to develop.”
Sally Grant, executive vice president and third-generation owner of Crew Carwash, said while new car wash operators continue to enter markets across Indiana, success within the business sector requires a continual improvement mindset and investment.
“When my grandfather opened our first car wash in 1948, he was a pioneer in the field bringing to Indiana the first automated car wash. He set the foundation for who were are today,” Grant said. “It all starts with hiring truly exceptional team members who genuinely care about our customers and each other. We pride ourselves on the pristine condition of our locations, whether it is a brand-new location or one that has been around since the beginning.”
Citing data from the International Car Wash Association, Grant said washing cars in a driveway can use about 100 gallons of water per vehicle, making automatic car washes a better water-saving option.
“By comparison, Crew Carwash uses 35 gallons of water, which is even lower than the national average for commercial carwashes,” Grant said. “Fifty-one % of our water is filtered, cleansed and reused through our reclaim system.”
APC Assistant Director Amanda Esposito said one of the concerns brought up during ordinance committee hearings for the proposed ordinance amendment was the concern for whether car washes were to go out of business.
Although abandoned car washes haven’t been a problem yet in Lafayette, Esposito said one sits just west of Dayton as drivers are exiting town toward I-65.
“With the decommissioning language addition, they just wanted to ensure that these properties would be brought back to a state of something other than a car wash to allow for a new business to come in in that instance,” Esposito said. “Maybe at some point we will have too many car washes and additional amendments will be needed, but that hasn’t been expressed yet.”
Crew Carwash operates three locations across Tippecanoe County, but there are no plans for any additional locations, Grant said.
Attempts to reach representatives for Tsunami Express and Wash N Roll for comment were unsuccessful.
Jillian Ellison is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. She can be reached via email at jellison@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Lafayette’s rapid development of gas stations prompted a change. Could car washes be next?
Reporting by Jillian Ellison, Lafayette Journal & Courier / Lafayette Journal & Courier
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