Council approves amendment to allow car wash at Regency Mall after parking concerns

The Racine Common Council on April 14 approved a final-plan amendment to the Regency Mall planned-development conditional-use permit to allow a new car wash at 2521 South Green Bay Road, after a debate focused on whether the site plan provides adequate employee and handicap parking.

The item, filed as 0382-25, was the subject of public comment and lengthy council discussion. Resident Mike Wilcom told the council the site plan “only allocated 4 employee parking stalls” and argued that “this large car wash is gonna take a minimum of 5 employees on a Saturday,” adding that he believed the plan lacked a required handicap space. “I was told by somebody in planning that it meets the code because it's in a mall outlot, but that code was written in 1973,” Wilcom said during public comment.

The council debated whether to delay the final approval and refer the item back…