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Planning board accepts traffic study and conditions CEQA lead‑agency intent for Atlantis Car Wash on Sawmill River Road
Summary
Applicants presented a 3,900‑square‑foot automated car wash and an internal pedestrian/parking connection to an adjacent gas station; the town traffic consultant found no significant adverse traffic impacts but asked that a queue‑management plan be conditioned to prevent cars from backing onto public roads. The board declared intent to act as lead agency for CEQA review.
Applicant representatives described a proposed 3,900‑square‑foot automated car wash at 609 Sawmill River Road that would include payment kiosks, vacuum stalls and a through‑connection to an adjacent gas station owned by the same applicant.
Adam Thieberg, the project’s landscape engineer, said the site is undeveloped and the proposal includes a new sewer main to replace existing holding‑tank service at the gas station; the combined sewer would serve both sites. He said the plan preserves required parking for the car wash and adds vacuum stalls and replacement spaces for four spaces removed at the gas station to create the through‑connection.
Town traffic consultant John Canning reviewed a traffic impact study funded by the applicant and told the board the analysis found no significant adverse impacts at nearby intersections or the roundabout. Canning recommended a queue‑management plan that would be kept on‑site (for example in the manager’s office) and implemented on high‑volume days to prevent stacking onto the public roadway. "My recommendation would be that this be bound into the approval as a condition," he said.
Board members questioned whether the four parking spaces removed at the gas station would leave that lot noncompliant on its own; the applicant said the two adjacent lots are under common ownership and that an easement or similar instrument could document cross‑lot arrangements.
The board declared its intent to serve as lead agency for environmental review (CEQA) and asked the applicant to submit additional stormwater sizing, water‑recycling (car‑wash recycling) details and documentation of any Phase I environmental work for the parcel. The car wash team said it would include a maintenance plan for the hydrodynamic separator and provide recycling specifications in the next submission.
