Traverse City planning commission approves Tommy's Express car wash at East Front Street with conditions

The Traverse City Planning Commission on April 21 approved a site-plan review for a proposed Tommy's Express automatic car wash at 1054 and 1060 East Front Street, adopting staff findings of fact and several conditions aimed at addressing traffic, noise and alley impacts.

Leslie, a Planning Department representative, told commissioners the project had been routed to the commission because projected trips exceed the 500-trip administrative threshold and because the city's traffic consultant recommended eliminating the curb cut on Garfield to reduce turning conflicts. Laurie of Wade Trim, the city's traffic consultant, summarized the study's inputs and findings, saying the team modeled 88 entering trips in the weekend peak hour and 68 during the weekday afternoon peak and that crash-history review between 2021 and 2025 showed 122 crashes in the area, including one pedestrian and four bicyclist crashes. "There's a lot of different conflicts, a lot of different movements…