Board approves car wash addition at Family Express site on Broadway and 101st

The Town of Merrillville Board of Zoning Appeals approved special-exception application Z3E3-0225 to add a single-bay automated car wash to an existing Family Express convenience store and fueling station at the southern end of town, at Broadway and 101st Avenue.

Applicant representative Paul Steininger told the board the site covers roughly 2.61 acres and will use existing on-site utilities and drainage structures. He said the car wash would use a Mark 7 automated system with Simoniz detergents and biodegradable products; a grease interceptor and an escape lane for vehicles leaving the queue were included in the design.

Staff told the board the planned hours are 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.; petitioner materials stated the car wash will be a self-service automated bay with an adequate queue and that the addition requires the zoning special exception to proceed. The applicant said the facility will generally be staffed with one employee per shift and a second employee when the store manager is present.

Board members asked for clarification on the survey and site plan pages; the petitioner supplied an additional sheet during the meeting showing the building location and queue alignment. No members of the public spoke against the project.

A motion to approve Z3E3-0225 for this location and use only passed on a roll-call vote recorded as four ayes, zero opposed; the board’s packet and staff comments noted that code compliance, drainage and final site engineering will be verified during permit review.