BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer
UPPER FREEHOLD – Get a car washed and grab some ice cream all in one shot.
Area residents and those just passing through may one day be able to do just that in Upper Freehold, as a property owner has presented a plan to put a car wash/ice cream shop on a Route 537 parcel.
Glenn Goebel pitched his idea for the new business at the May 7 Economic Development Committee (EDC) meeting. The EDC helps guide potential new businesses through the township’s approval process.
The 2.5-acre site, which was previously used for a kennel, currently has a “broken-down” house and a barn on it, Goebel said. There are residences to the east of the property, and a 25-acre open field for sale for a commercial use to the west.
Goebel would like to build an express, exterior car wash, where customers drive up, pay, and go through to get their vehicles washed. The car wash building would have a small store inside. The ice cream shop would be a small, separate building with an outdoor picnic area.
The car wash would operate from 8 a.m. to sunset, while the ice cream store would open later and remain open until 9 p.m., he said.
The project would require the creation of an acceleration/deceleration lane on Route 537, according to Goebel.
Goebel said he has not yet hired an engineer for the project, and showed the EDC his own renditions of the prospective business. He wants to have an architect design a red, barn-like exterior for the buildings, he said.
Less than half of the site would be paved with impervious coverage, according to Goebel.
Goebel said his car wash would not create any discharge and would use a water recycling system as long as there are no sanitary sewer systems available. Ninety-nine percent of the water used at the business would be recycled, Goebel said.
Goebel said there might be a better location for a car wash, but called the township’s Highway Development Zone along Route 537 “a prime area.”
Although his research into car washes showed those businesses do best at intersections, he said approximately 15,000 to 20,000 vehicles pass by the site he bought each day. He said the amount of traffic would be enough to sustain the business and to make a profit.
“I’m here to talk to the EDC to see how you feel before I start spending a lot of money on this,” he said.
Thomas Frascella, who ran the EDC meeting in the absence of Chairman Tim Lizura, said that as the Highway Development Zone continues to develop, the township should create a unified plan for service access, as opposed to an individual curb/entrance approach.
“It’s potentially a busy highway,” he said.
Goebel said that if the 25-acre parcel next to his is developed, the county may want to put a third lane on Route 537.
“It’s only getting busier down here,” he said.
Frascella said the parcels could be developed years apart. The town could let each piece develop with no overall master plan, Frascella said, or the township could be proactive and plan for the corridor to be developed in a certain way, with turnarounds and slowdowns.
“Now is the time to plan and get a jump on it, rather than have things move in and retrofit it,” Frascella said.
EDC member Barbara Isaac noted that California has car washes where the equipment moves and the vehicle stays in one place. She said that type of car wash might be a better choice for such limited acreage.
In response, Goebel said those types of car washes do not clean vehicles as well.
“The bottom line with a car wash is to make sure you keep the customer happy,” he said.
Dr. S. Perrine Dey, an EDC member and chairman of the township’s Board of Health, said the Board of Health and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) would have to oversee the implementation of any recycling system used at the car wash.