Appendix B - Letter from carwash designer.docx

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I became a member with the Australian Car Wash Association (ACWA) back in 2012. I have
attended many (4 out of the 4) Car Wash Exhibitions as an exhibitor around Australia, I have
presented at 2 of these Exhibitions- the last show being in Sydney in September 2022 where
only 6 people were asked to present particular topics- 2 of them being ‘Zoomed’ in from
overseas. The link to the presentation is found here-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xQEDi0oqEg (watch from 34:45min). I was very honoured
to be asked to speak at this event by ACWA as only 4 industry experts were given this
opportunity to do so. I have also been published in 2 quarterly ACWA newsletters as the writer
of the ‘feature’ article for that issue.

Nowadays, I have over 18 years of experience in designing/detailing all aspects of car washes
around Australia and New Zealand; from Planning to Structural/Civil/Hydraulic Engineering,
Architectural drafting/building design construction documentation, and Car Wash Equipment
layout documentation. It is true that I take a totally holistic approach to the design of my car
wash sites which my qualifications and past experience affords me to do. It is assured that the
highest building standards and car wash best practices have been followed in the
design/documentation completed to date and same will be implemented in the ongoing
documentation of this proposal.




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SPECIFICS ABOUT THIS PROJECT:
I have been involved in this project over the last 2.5 years and have worked closely with the site
owners Chris King and Joanne Hill throughout this time. Their passion and drive is unrelenting
and their desire to be environmentally friendly and sustainable with the Car Wash operations is
applaudable. In all of the projects that I have worked on over the years, I have never seen a
project that has had the quality and extent of specialist Consultants design, document and
review a site such as this one. In the future, I will be using this car wash site as an example of
what is possible especially from an environmental viewpoint. Some of the documentation that
has been produced for this submission is in the ‘game changing’ league and is to be
commended.

The built form of this Car Wash is an element that I am particularly proud of. I truly feel that the
Car Wash building materials, building siting, and actual architectural form is quite different from
the traditional car wash ‘boxy’ design. The proposed built form is a great reflection of the past
discussions with Council, reviewing the local architecture style and being creative to make the
Car Wash not ‘look’ like a traditional car wash site. The overhanging and high-level pitched
roofs, protruding verandah areas, inset windows, timber panel features, earthy/contemporary
colour selection, integrated shaded seating area and measured multi-terraced landscaping all
combine to create a unique design response that satisfies the Cooroy Local Plan Code.

The proposed “car wash” use is a growing routine that is widely accepted by the public as an
environmentally friendly, responsible, convenient, cost-effective method of washing and
vacuuming a vehicle. The location of a Car Wash is of upmost importance. A Car Wash needs to
be located in the direct path of travel of a customer for it to be successful. Customers using car
washing facilities will often visit the site as an ‘opportunistic’ use when on a trip to perform
another task, ie: re-fuelling their vehicle at the adjoining Service Stations, food shopping,
dropping off/picking up the kids to/from school, visiting family/friends etc… This means that
most of the customers that use car wash facilities do so as a secondary action- not as the main
purpose of the trip to drive past the site. Therefore, it is commonly found that many of the ‘trips’
generated by people that travel past the car wash site would have travelled past the subject site
anyway to conduct their main planned activity. If the car wash facility was located away from
these main trafficked areas (ie: in the Industrial zones along Jarrah Street and Holts Road) it is
likely that the business would fail as it would be located too far away from the usual customer
path of travel. Unfortunately, what I have found over the many years, is that if the Car Wash is
not located in an appropriate prominent location of the ‘normal’ path of travel for typical
customers- it is often the case of “Out of sight, out of mind” and the car wash is seldom used and
the business will fail.

In my opinion, the proposed location on Elm Street is an ideal location for the Car Wash. Many
Car Washes that I have designed over the years are located immediately adjoining or connected
to Service Station sites. This is so, as the car washing process is often seen as an ancillary use to
refuelling/maintaining your vehicle etc… History has shown that it would not be uncommon for
around 65-70% of customers that use the Car Wash site to also have refuelled their vehicle at the
adjoining Service Stations before/after washing their car. In some areas this percentage is even
higher.




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The proposed site is located in a localised ‘service’ area of Cooroy. This site is secluded from the
main foot trafficked retail, commercial areas which are located on the other side of the railway
line (ie: Maple Street and Emerald Street) or along Diamond Street. Whilst the previous planning
application consisted of a 620 M2 retail development was successful; when the owner (Kexron
Pty Ltd- Ron McCarthy) advertised for tenants (prior to construction commencing) he was
unable to gain suitable up-take for the retail units. The common reasoning behind this was that
the potential tenants did not think that the site location was suitable for a retail business- being
located between two Service Stations, on the ‘back’ side or ‘dead’ side of the Railway line and
away from the main foot traffic paths of travel of potential customers. Thereafter he sold the site
to Chris King and Joanne Hill.

One of the main areas/topics that has been completed on this project (that I have never seen
before or been asked to document before) is the Holistic Water Management Plan. Extensive
research has gone into collating this document and it gives a true reflection of the ability of a Car
Wash site to be able to capture, store and use a large volume of stormwater in the car washing
process. This, in turn, results in lowering the demand on the Town Water supply for car washing
process. When a comparison is made with the volume and quality of stormwater discharged
from the previous Motel development that occupied the site verses the proposed Car Wash
development; due to the volume of stormwater that is to be captured and re-used in the car
wash process; the volume of stormwater that is discharged from the site is lower than what is
currently being discharged from the Motel site. Due to the stormwater quality improvement
systems that will be installed in the Car Wash site; the quality of the discharged stormwater will
also exceed the current Motel site WSUD quality treatment requirements.

This report highlights the importance and value of recycling the waste water produced in the
automatic car washing process. By installing the recycling equipment, this will reduce the
overall site water usage and sewer discharge by ~9ML per year which is a reduction of around
60%! Finally, the report emphasises the importance of approving the proposed Car Wash
development by comparing the environmental impacts of the local area’s current car washing
practices (ie: mostly washing your car at home where the effluent water discharges into the local
stormwater system) to the future practices whereby the proposed Car Wash facility is
constructed and can be used to wash their car for an estimated 68,000 car washes per year. This
change and education of the community to the environmental benefits of washing their car at a
car wash that is environmentally friendly (as this site will be) will drastically help reduce the
volume of physico-chemical, heavy metals and organic pollutants that are otherwise dissolved
into the local stormwater system.

The overall site has been designed with the view to reduce the acoustic and lighting impacts to
the adjoining areas. I have worked closely with both the Acoustic Engineer and Lighting
Consultant to ensure that the proposed design can ‘naturally’ mitigate any adverse impacts to
surrounding sites. I have also ensured that all possible elements have been included in the
proposed site layout and design to minimise the risk of crime, by adopting the Crime Prevention
Through Environmental Design (CPTED) principals and minimisation techniques that are
available.




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Whilst I acknowledge that the proposed Car Wash use may not be an anticipated use for this
particular site; In my vast past experience, it is not uncommon for car wash sites to be located in
densely populated residential areas, commercial/business areas or industrial areas. The
important factor that is that the car wash ’use’ and ‘impact’ is assessed on its merit to truly
ascertain the suitability of the car wash use on a particular site. In this instance, in my
professional opinion, with all of the documented Plans, Traffic/Acoustic/Economic Needs
Assessment and Planning reports that have been completed; I 100% support these documents
as a justification for the approval of a car wash on the proposed site at 34 Elm Street in Cooroy.

If you require any further information or clarification regarding the plans or reports produced by
this Office, I invite you to contact me directly via telephone or email for a timely response.

Yours faithfully,


Tracey                                Digitally signed by
                                      Tracey Michaels

Michaels                              Date: 2022.10.31
                                      14:23:39 +11'00'
TRACEY MICHAELS B.ENG (Hon), M.ENG (Mgmt)
Designer/Director
TMC Building Design Group




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             TMC Building Design Group Pty Ltd