The Gilbert Planning and Zoning Commission on a 7-0 vote approved design review for a Good Day Car Wash at the southwest corner of Ray and Higley Roads, subject to a modified condition requiring the project designer to complete a thorough ADA code review and, if necessary, remove vacuum equipment that would obstruct an ADA parking stall.

Keith (planning staff) presented the 1.38-acre site plan, describing a roughly 5,500-square-foot building, 21 vacuum bays and stacked queuing lanes. He told the commission staff’s recommended condition would require the removal of vacuum equipment at one designated ADA parking stall to “ensure unobstructed accessibility and compliance with ADA standards.” Keith noted the town’s practice has been not to count vacuum bays as parking spaces and to avoid placing vacuum equipment in required ADA stalls.

Neighbor Jason Peck (identified at the hearing as a resident adjacent to the site) told commissioners he had not received mailed notice and urged the commission to pause approval so neighbors could consider alternatives; he said, “This project brings noise, extra noise, lighting, traffic, water use, all right next to my home.” Architect John Riddell, representing the applicant, told the commission the applicant mailed notices based on the city-provided mailing list and that a sign was posted on Higley Road; he said four mailings were returned as wrong-address during the process. Staff and the architect explained the design locates noisy vacuum equipment to the north of the building and places a 6-foot wall and a significant landscape buffer along the southern border to separate the nearest residences from active car-wash operations.

Commissioners pressed staff on the ADA interpretation. Commissioner Anderson said staff should not rely solely on internal practice and asked that the project designer confirm compliance; the commission accepted a motion to approve that included the modified condition requiring an ADA code review by the project designer and removal of vacuum equipment from the ADA stall if compliance requires it. The motion passed 7-0.

The commission noted the underlying zoning and entitlement for a car wash had been set earlier in the master plan and clarified the current hearing addressed design review details and site-level conditions, not entitlement of the use itself.

Staff will include the modified ADA condition in the approval and will require the project designer to submit documentation showing how ADA compliance is achieved before final permit issuance.