Resolution approving a Certificate of Design Compliance for the construction of a new, approximately 5,200 square foot structure in the Highway Gateway Overlay District (1896 Adams Street); by request of Civil Site Group.

At the August 28, 2024, meeting, the Planning Commission recommended the adoption of the resolution granting a certificate of design compliance for the proposed carwash with the following findings:

1. The property is located in the Highway Gateway Overlay District and the proposed value of the project exceeds $500,000.
2. The design of building elevations conforms to the guidelines when considered with the proposed approving conditions in the underlying district as the use of brick, CMU, EIFS, glass, and metal accents as a minor part of the overall design conforms to the standards. All sides of the building visible to the public will be treated consistently with quality materials and finishes.

Civil Site Group is requesting a certificate of design compliance for the construction of a new, approximately 5,200 square foot car wash in the Highway Gateway Overlay District. The subject property is located at 1896 Adams Street and is legally described as Lot 8, Block 1, River Hills Mall Addition.

The applicant is seeking a certificate of design compliance for the construction of a new structure in the Highway Gateway Overlay District, HGT. The HGT is intended to promote high quality design in Mankato's gateways. The areas included within this district are located at major entryways into the city and are located in commercial and office zoning districts. The design features and standards included in the City Code are not only to create a positive first impression upon entering the city, but also to establish an image and character that is uniquely Mankato's. 

Plans submitted by the applicant show the removal of the existing structure on the lot located on the easterly side of River Hills Mall adjacent to Highway 22.

The site plan shows access to the previously platted lot from the mall ring road, a private road. River Hills Mall Realty Holdings, LLC, the mall property owner, has submitted a letter of approval providing their formal consent to the proposed project and site plan as submitted. There are two access points to the subject lot; one access point on the southerly side of the lot for both ingress and egress to this site and one access point on the northerly side of the lot for egress only from the subject site. The site plans depict two car wash drive-thru lanes accessing the car wash structure, along with a by-pass lane for the drive-thru area. The location of the drive-thru conforms to the Highway Gateway Overlay standards. While the original submission included a request for a conditional use permit for the location of the drive-thru, upon further review, the location of the drive-thru conforms to the Code standards without the need for a conditional use permit, as the drive-thru is not located between the building and the primary frontage. 

Proposed construction includes a new, approximately 5,200 square foot car wash building. The main building on the site, which is located on the easterly side of the lot, achieves the Highway Gateway Overlay District setback standards. On interior lots, the minimum front yard building setback shall be 15 feet and the maximum shall be 150 feet from the right-of-way or roadway easement, and as proposed, the setback is 16 feet from the Highway 22 property line. The proposal also achieves the rear and side yard setbacks of a three-foot side yard or rear yard setback to an impervious parking or storage surface and a six-foot setback to any portion of a building. 

The site contains 19 surface parking lot stalls in the new parking lot area, along with sufficient room for three stacking stalls in each of the car wash drive-thru lanes, which achieves City Code parking standards. City Code, Section 10.85 outlines that car wash uses shall provide three off-street vehicle stacking spaces per wash stall and one off-street parking space per employee on a major shift. The narrative provided indicates that on the largest shift there will be three employees maximum. The narrative indicates that there will be nine vacuums serving the parking stalls and that the vacuums will be free for use during regular business hours. A slightly larger parking stall is designed to accommodate the vacuums and the vacuums are aligned with one vacuum post serving two parking stalls. Each vacuum has two hoses that are attached to a central vacuum system that routes to either the main building or the detached pump house at the southeast corner of the site. Each vacuum station is also equipped with a trash bin, a mat clip for easy vacuuming, and a central blower system to help clean those hard-to-reach places. The color of the exterior vacuum hoses and components will need to achieve the city's franchise coloring standards, and a condition is included herein. 

The City Code allows a maximum ground coverage of 75 percent and the proposed development achieves the code criteria at 12.6 percent structure coverage. 

A new, cast in place concrete retaining wall is proposed on the eastern side of the site. The site plans include that the new wall will be tied into the existing wall and the top of the new retaining wall will match the existing wall on both the north and south ends of the property. 

In addition to the main car wash building, the applicant's site plan also shows accessory structures including a sales booth, and a pump house structure, each of which achieves the City Code setback criteria and the design criteria as having a proposed finish similar to the primary structure. A trash enclosure is shown on the northern side of the site, and the materials are depicted as structural brick to match the primary structure. 

The Highway Gateway Overly District building design and construction standards are achieved with the proposal. The proposed building will be constructed of a mixture of brick, cast stone, split face concrete masonry units, CMU, a stucco-like product, EIFS, metal and aluminum storefront window systems. The applicant has submitted the exterior wall material elevation percentages, which confirm that the proposal achieves the allowable 20% maximum usage of each elevation of CMU. Exterior wall coloring achieves the franchise coloring standards as gray is an earth tone color. 

The snow removal plan indicates that all snow will be stored onsite outside the parking lot. When full, a snow removal company will be hired to remove the excess snow from the site. The applicant's plans do not show an off-street loading area, and the applicant has indicated that deliveries will occur at the front door by standard commercial delivery vehicles such as UPS, Fed-Ex, or USPS. The applicant does not anticipate deliveries which would require the use of a semi-truck or a loading dock. 

A landscaping plan has been provided. The Highway Gateway Overlay standards require that wherever a parking surface faces a street frontage, the parking area shall be screened from the street with a wall, fence or hedge to a minimum of four-feet, but not more than eight-feet, nor be less than eighty percent opaque. The applicant will be required to demonstrate that this standard is achieved with the height of the proposed retaining wall along with the proposed plantings. In addition, the general landscaping standards include one, six-foot evergreen tree for every 25' lineal feet or parking area, and one, 2.5 include caliper shade tree for every 50 feet of parking area will be required. A condition is included herein that a landscaping plan verifying conformance with the City Code shall be provided at the time of building permit submission. 

The location will be for the operation of Tsunami Express Car Wash, which is allowed in the B-3 zoning district. The applicant's narrative states that regular business hours will be from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm daily and that there will be attendants on duty for the full duration of the operating hours. Tsunami expects to service 200-400 customers per day, according to the narrative.