The owner of a chain of car washes wants to build a car wash in Chicago Ridge on the site of James Saunoris & Sons Flowers & Greenhouses, which closed at the end of 2021.
Phillip DeGeratto, owner of Buddy Bear Car Wash, said he has a contract to purchase the approximate 2-acre property on the northwest corner of 111th Street and Austin Avenue.
DeGeratto proposes a car wash with four wash lanes along 111th and four single-family houses to the north of the car wash. Vehicles would enter and leave the car wash from Austin Avenue.
While the Village Board wants to welcome the new business, several board members said they want vehicles to access the car wash from 111th, not from Austin.
“Austin Avenue is not a thoroughfare that can handle a mass of cars,” Village Trustee Elaine Davenport said.
“I can tell you with my own experience, it will be a nightmare if cars are constantly coming out of that car wash onto Austin Avenue,” Davenport said at an April board meeting. “It’s going to be impossible for any resident to get out on 111th from that street.”
Austin connects with 111th in a T-intersection with a traffic signal, with the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery on the south side of 111th. North of 111th, Austin has houses on both sides of the street.
Village Trustee Andrew Siegel said the car wash’s busiest days likely will be the busiest days at the cemetery, the weekends.
An average of about 60 vehicles an hour go through the car wash, said DeGeratto, who has Buddy Bear car washes in Berwyn, Bellwood, Broadview and nine in Chicago. During peak times, the numbers are higher, he said.
His plan for the Saunoris property shows about 22 parking spaces at the car wash for drivers to use the vacuums.
More Top Picks Curtains Outdoor
Siegel said he has gone to DeGeratto’s car wash at 95th and Vincennes in Chicago. It’s a well-run operation, he said, but after exiting the car wash, drivers, including himself, often pull off to the side of the road to towel dry their vehicles, which could add to the congestion.
The board’s concerns about traffic were so great that when they voted June 21 to approve a license for Buddy Bear Car Wash, it was with the condition there be no exit or entrance on Austin.
But DeGeratto persisted with Austin access in a plan he showed to village officials Tuesday at the Saunoris property. The entrance onto Austin would be configured so that only right turns to go south from the site would be allowed.
The property has a 30-foot driveway connecting with 111th, but it would have to be widened if that were the main entrance and exit to the car wash, DeGeratto said. He and his engineer do not think the Illinois Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction over 111th Street, would allow that.
The driveway to the car wash would be too close to the traffic signal, and drivers turning left from the business to go east on 111th would have to cross the two westbound lanes, plus a left turn lane from 111th to Austin.
Based on IDOT guidelines, DeGeratto thinks that would be a long shot.
But the village engineer, Andrew Pufundt, recommends submitting the plan to IDOT to get the agency’s feedback.
“They can say yea or nay,” Pufundt said. “I think it’s worth exploring whether that driveway could be widened to fit your westbound and eastbound lanes out of the car wash.”
Some village officials suggested the timing of the traffic signal at 111th and Austin could be changed to give drivers entering or exiting Austin more time to turn.
Members of the Saunoris family and a few residents from the area came to the July 26 meeting at the closed garden center.
DeGeratto said he has been working with the Saunorises on the project for the past six or seven months, so he does not want to walk away from it. But he expects IDOT’s review process could take from six weeks to several months.
“I hate to put more time and money into this,” DeGeratto said Wednesday.
The 81-year-old James Saunoris II, a Chicago Ridge native, died July 5, but his sons and brother, who own the Saunoris Garden Center in Frankfort, are in favor of the project.
Lester Saunoris said DeGeratto’s car washes are clean, well-run businesses and he’s investing $5 million in the Chicago Ridge site.
But Melissa Kelley, who has lived near 107th and Austin for 25 years, said there is already a speeding problem on Austin that has not been addressed. She thinks a car wash could make it worse and would like the village to put up more stop signs on Austin.
The Village Board could discuss that and updates to the car wash proposal. The board usually meets on the first and third Tuesday of each month.
Kimberly Fornek is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.