Linglestown closer to getting car wash

It’s not a done deal, but odds are improving that Lower Paxton Twp.-based Triple Crown Corporation could soon transform the blighted Linglestown property on North Mountain Road that formerly was a self-serve gas station into a small car wash.

Triple Crown hurdled a major obstacle Tuesday when the Lower Paxton Twp. supervisors approved a zoning change to allow car wash facilities in the outskirts of the village and other areas in the township located in a neighborhood commercial zoning district.

The zoning change requires Triple Crown to convince township officials that the planned car wash will recycle water on the site, and is aesthetically pleasing and compatible to the neighborhood.

If Triple Crown gets an OK to use the property for a car wash, it would then have to come up with a way to cram the facility on the tiny half-acre lot and still comply with township land development rules.

Mark Coakley of Triple Crown said the firm had an engineer and a car wash expert put together a plan that should comply with all township regulations.

Supevisors Bill Seeds and Bill Hornung, who were leery of allowing a car wash on a half-acre lot, advised Coakley to submit a plan that did not require a long list of requirements to be waived.

In other business, township officials are working on a 2009 township budget. The supervisors will hold a budget workshop meeting next Tuesday (Nov. 25) at 4 pm to finalize a tentative spending plan.

Budget planning is a challenge this year due to the down economy that has caused taxes and fees received this year to be lower than projected, said township manager George Wolfe.
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NOTE: The photo was taken prior to the removal of underground gasoline tanks.