I’m beginning to feel that, in a few years, Club Car Wash is going to become as ubiquitous as Kwik Trip. They have a number of locations in the Fox Cities, including one under construction on the south side of town. And, if the events at the recent Board of Zoning Appeals meeting are any indication, another Club Car Wash will soon be rising majestically on the north side of Appleton.
The Board of Zoning Appeals met 10/17/2022. Three of the variance requests they took up were related to a new Club Car Wash location on the corner of Northland, Ballard, and Longview. I’ve put together a transcript of the full discussion:
Each of the variances were related to the fact that the location essentially has three front yards which made it difficult to install code-compliant features.
The first variance request was to construct a drive through facility in the front yard, but Section 23-49(a) of the Zoning Ordinance prohibits drive through facilities in the front yard.
The second variance request was to build an unattached canopy to cover the pay stations at the car wash, but Section 23-43(f)(2)(e) of the Zoning Ordinance did not allow accessory structures in the front yard.
Finally, the third variance was to build a trash dumpster in the front yard, but Section 23-47(a) of the Zoning Ordinance prohibited dumpsters in the front yard.
The variance requests and the discussions about the variance requests were pretty straightforward, and all three variance requests were granted.
The request to construct a drive through in the front yard was handled swiftly. The board spent around 4 minutes discussing this request before they voted to approve it. Chairman Paul McCann noted that a property with three frontages in a commercial area was very difficult to develop within code. He felt that the architect had done what they could with the layout to maximize the use and create a plan that was in the best interest of the neighborhood.
The board also spent around 4 minutes discussing the request to build a canopy in the front yard. The main subject of discussion was actually clarification of what the relevant code was. When Inspections Supervisor Kurt Craanen had first put together the agenda, he had thought that the canopy was attached to the building in which case the relevant code required a 10 foot setback from the lot line instead of the 8 that was being requested by the applicant. However, it turned out that the canopy was not attached and would, therefore, be considered an accessory structure which city code did not permit in the front yard at all regardless of setback.
The purpose of the canopy was to protect customers from precipitation as they used the pay stations. Due to the lot having 3 frontages, there was no way to reasonably install the pay stations in a place that would not be in the front yard. The board unanimously approved the variance request.
The final variance request was to construct a dumpster enclosure in the front yard. The discussion for this request clocked in at around 9 minutes. Much of that discussion was spent trying to determine if the proposed dumpster enclosure was even in the front yard to begin with and needed a variance. While the enclosure was in front of the main face of the building, the building had a little bump-out that was close to being in line with the dumpster. So, the question was did the front yard start at the edge of the bump-out or further back at the main face of the building?
The board eventually voted unanimously to approve the requested location of the dumpster as illustrated in the diagram provided with the request.
[It’s a little surprising how often dumpster enclosure regulations come up in committee discussions, but I guess that’s what city government intrigue looks like sometimes.]
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=999525&GUID=A24C52D8-B20D-445E-AB82-7EF04C5633BA
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