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Hyde to add second car wash

SARANAC LAKE — Hyde Fuel plans to add another car wash to its Nice ‘N’ Easy gas station and convenience store on Lake Flower Avenue.

The project was conditionally approved Tuesday by the village Development Board. It involves construction of a second bay onto the back of the existing car wash building located behind the store.

“The reason for the additional proposed bay is, at busy times, to ease the wait time for people, and also if one goes down, we can still offer a wash,” Peter Van Etten, Hyde’s operations manager, told the board.

The existing facility offers a “touchless” car wash. The new one would provide a brush wash, Van Etten said.

The new car wash bay would have the same architecture as the existing building. The entrance area would have to be widened to accommodate vehicles for the additional bay.

As part of the project, a village water main that runs through the site and serves Saranac Village at Will Rogers would have to be relocated. Van Etten said that work would be done at his company’s expense.

“There would be a small interruption of service during the transition, a maximum of four hours,” Van Etten said. “We’ve talked to Will Rogers. They have enough water capacity that wouldn’t interrupt anything in their daily operation.”

A portion of the berm behind the existing car wash building would have to be removed to make room for the additional bay. An existing retaining wall there would be rebuilt once the soil is taken out, Van Etten said.

Planning Board Chairwoman Leslie Karasin said she was “a little surprised” by the amount of grading that would have to be done. She recalled a plan several years ago for a Quick Lube on Lake Flower Avenue that would have involved extensive excavating and grading of the esker along the road. That plan was later dropped.

“Do you see it as a difficult engineering task to push the retaining wall back?” she asked Van Etten.

“We feel it’s going to be pretty straightforward,” he said. “We did the existing retaining wall, so it’s essentially moving it, with the same kind of construction, to the proper grading.”

The board added a series of conditions to its approval, including one recommended by village Community Development Director Jeremy Evans to mark any trees larger than 6 inches in diameter and limit construction where those trees are located. Village officials will also have to review and approve the plans for relocation of the water main. An easement for the main will have to be recorded in the Essex County clerk’s office before the new car wash can begin operating, per a recommendation from board member Donna Difara.

Van Etten said after the meeting that he expects work on the new car wash bay will begin in late May or early June.

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