Despite Traverse City planning commissioners approving a new Tommy’s Express Car Wash for the corner of Garfield Avenue and East Front Street last month, the company is withdrawing its plans for the site. City zoning changes underway that would require auto-centric uses to go through a more intensive review process will likely take effect before Tommy’s can start construction, which would require the company to go through a brand new approval process. Real estate and company representatives expressed frustration over the situation, which could also have implications for three neighboring East Front Street properties up for rezoning tonight (Tuesday).

Planning commissioners voted in April to approve the new Tommy’s Express Car Wash on the Cuppa Joe and former Burger King properties. Multiple members said they were “reluctantly” approving the plans since car washes are an allowed use by right on the C-3 site, leaving the board with little recourse to reject the proposal. Planning commissioners expressed concerns ranging from community opposition to traffic congestion to impacts on neighbors but felt compelled under the ordinance to approve the plans.

To avoid another such situation in the future, planning commissioners prioritized updating zoning rules for auto-centric uses like car washes, drive-throughs, and service/gas stations. The city has discussed such changes multiple times in recent years; its new master plan also calls for evaluating the criteria and locations of such businesses. On May 5, planning commissioners held a public hearing and unanimously voted to support changing auto-centric businesses from a use by right to a special land use permit (SLUP). SLUPs add several more approval steps, including public hearings at both the planning and city commission levels and a detailed list of standards that projects must meet to be approved.

The zoning update must still go through city commissioners, who reviewed the topic Monday and scheduled a possible enactment vote for June 1. If approved, the zoning changes are likely to take effect before Tommy’s can break ground or make enough construction progress to be considered “vested” in the site. The new zoning rules would therefore apply to Tommy’s, requiring the company to go back through a new SLUP approval process.

That scenario prompted Tommy’s to withdraw its plans. “Although the company received initial site plan approval, shifting requirements introduced too many risks for the project,” Tommy’s Communications Manager Austin Brunner told The Ticker by email. “Tommy's is extremely disappointed; we cannot wait to serve the Traverse City community with a next level car wash experience. We are diligently searching for a location that's the right fit for both our business and the community.”

Kevin Endres of real estate firm Three West, who represents the property owners, expresses frustration over the process. That’s not just as a broker who lost a deal, he says, but as chair of Grand Traverse County’s Economic Development Corporation who is working to promote economic growth. “It’s unfair to a developer who made an application and got approval under one set of rules to revoke the approval after the fact,” he says. “You can’t move the goalposts for every single project. It’s hard to do business in this community if that’s going to be the standard operating procedure. It’s put a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths.”

Endres acknowledges hearing community opposition to the car wash, with residents advocating for other options ranging from housing to mixed-use developments to more pedestrian-friendly commercial uses. However, he notes that city zoning rules allowed the property to be used by Tommy’s, who is now the fourth buyer in four years to fall through. Two of those possible uses were multi-family developments, neither of which could ultimately make the numbers work. In one case, a buyer pulled out immediately after city voters passed a ballot measure requiring all tax increment financing (TIF) plans to go to a public vote. That includes brownfield TIF, which is now a state tool that can be used to finance affordable housing projects.

“That (ballot proposal) absolutely killed the affordable housing project there,” Endres says. City Planning Director Shawn Winter says he’s also aware of that housing project falling through and points to the difficulty of getting affordable housing to “pencil out” with 45-foot height restrictions on C-3 buildings. “Those are some of the questions the community needs to think about,” he says. “Would they be supportive of a 60-foot residential building there or a car wash? If the market can’t build at 45 feet and make it break even, it’s not going to happen. We need to have a conversation about what it’ll take to get those land uses in the city.”

On the zoning front, however, Winter says the city “told Tommy’s right from the get-go” that changes to auto-centric uses were a possibility and called for in the master plan. “Zoning isn’t a promise; it’s open to changing,” he says. “Zoning is based on a master plan…(developers) should look at that master plan as they consider investments.”

If Tommy’s had been shovel-ready, the company could have immediately broken ground after approval and potentially become vested before the zoning changes took effect, Winter notes. Tommy’s also has the option to go through the SLUP process and potentially be approved again. “Tommy’s made the decision to abandon the project, but they could have kept moving forward,” he says. “(The zoning update) isn’t eliminating the use…it’s just a use that has more of an impact and therefore would warrant a more in-depth review process.”

The new zoning rules would also apply to three parcels directly next to the Burger King site that are up for rezoning. Planning commissioners will discuss 1026, 1028, and 1040 East Front Street tonight (Tuesday) at their 6pm meeting. The three parcels, owned by Dennis Prout, include two vacant sites and one site that hosts the former Prout Financial building. The properties are currently zoned HR (Hotel Resort); Prout is seeking to rezone them to C-3 (Community Center District).

A city staff analysis indicates there are “limited development options available in the HR district, making the C-3 district more flexible for a number of uses.” The adjoining Burger King site is C-3; the city’s master plan also supports rezoning the Prout properties. Those parcels are in an area identified as a future Commercial Gateway, which is aligned with zoning districts HR, C-1, C-3, and R-3. Staff noted that C-3 auto-centric uses might not be compatible with surrounding residences, as came up with the Tommy’s project, but that the new zoning rules would provide the city “additional control over these uses.”

Endres, who represents the Prout properties, says they’re collectively under contract with a buyer who’s aware of the potential new SLUP conditions and prepared to navigate those if needed.

Pictured: Rendering of a typical Tommy's Express Car Wash