Council, Planning Commission keep record open for proposed Fields Road car wash amid master-plan and traffic debate

A joint public hearing at the March 17 Gaithersburg Mayor and City Council meeting examined schematic development plan STP-9896-2024, which would demolish a vacant restaurant at 10009 Fields Road and build a 5,106-square-foot automatic car wash and relocate an existing car wash from the adjacent parcel at 10003 Fields Road.

The applicant, represented by Pat Harris of Lerch, Early & Brewer for contract ground lessee WLR Automotive Group, said the plan would include a 5,106-square-foot wash building, 22 vacuum stalls, six standard parking spaces and about 42% green area across the site. “Based on our experience at all of those sites the queuing doesn’t exceed the length of the building,” Harris said, describing membership lanes and a fob-entry lane the company uses.

Why it matters: the proposal prompted a technical review of whether the use fits the City’s 1997 master plan (as reaffirmed in the 2009 land-use element) and whether the site’s busy, highway-adjacent setting makes the location appropriate. Planning commissioners and staff also pressed detailed questions about trip generation, queuing, pedestrian access and whether the new facility would change the character of the MXD-zoned site.

Project and developer claims Pat Harris said the…