A car wash development near Asylum Lake Preserve appears to be on hold.
On Tuesday, Kalamazoo City Planners announced that they will no longer include a controversial piece of land in their city-wide rezoning plan.
The property is owned by Haji Tehrani, owner of Drive & Shine carwash chain. His request to remove natural features protection from the site was rejected by the city in 2020.
The city’s latest rezoning proposal could have made it easier for Drive & Shine to develop the site into its fourth car wash in the area. Two of the property’s three parcels would have gone from residential to commercial zoning.
On Monday, before the city’s announcement, Drive and Shine Chief Operations Officer Matthew Tehrani addressed concerns that Kalamazoo already has too many car washes.
“Convenience is really big for the customers,” he said. “I think we’re doing the right thing by continuing to add more locations in that market, and certainly the population size justifies it.”
Drive & Shine did not respond to our request for comment about the city’s recent announcement.
Kalamazoo City Planner Christina Anderson says the city will consider other zoning options for the property at a later date.
“They’re certainly unique parcels,” she said. “There’s certainly a lot of citizen interest in those parcels, so it’s an opportunity to look at them separately.”
Almost 2,000 parcels across the city are under consideration for rezoning under the current proposal. The city is still receiving public feedback on the proposed changes.
