A new car repair shop is coming to South College Road. Here's what you need to know.
A new car repair shop is coming to the corner of Jasmine Cove Way and South College Road.
New Hanover County Commissioners voted unanimously to approve a proposal from Summit Design and Engineering Services to rezone 4580 S. College Road. The rezoning will allow for the development of Christian Brothers Automotive, a 6,000-square-foot minor vehicle service station that is “limited to operations that involve small repairs to privately owned vehicles.” Such repairs include oil changes, wheel realignment and muffler repair.
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The shop will include 10 bay doors — five facing the eastern side toward South College Road, and five facing the western side. Each bay door can receive an individual vehicle, allowing for up to 10 vehicles to be serviced at one time. It will also include two access points — one on south college road and the other on Jasmine Cove Way.
The adjacent northern and southern properties are non-residential, and northeast of the lot is a mixed-use development. To the east sits a single-family residential development and to the west there are single-family and multi-family dwellings.
According to county staff, the development will provide commercial services closer to the surrounding residential homes and would be the only transitional commercial use along this portion of South College Road.
While Commissioner Rob Zapple applauded the applicant’s architectural design elements, he questioned the limitations of its traffic impact analysis showing the effects of only one nearby development.
“It doesn’t make sense to me that we wouldn’t consider a large amount of cars being dumped into essentially a one-block area,” Zapple said.
Jasmine Cove resident Michelle Eric spoke in opposition, citing traffic and environmental concerns. “Will there be waste from industrial chemicals? How will it be stored? Will it be protecting the space that we live in?”
Erin Hutchens with Summit Design responded: “Christian Brothers is a low-impact, environmentally friendly automotive center.” The presentation also noted that all “cleaning supplies are environmentally friendly, delivering no pollutants to the environment.”
Despite the traffic and environmental concerns, James Moore, president of Arab Shrine Club (the property Summit Design wishes to develop) spoke in favor of the proposal. “Their consistency to keep the place looking clean was one of the major decisions [as to why] we chose to go with them,” he said.
Danny Gore, acting president of the Wilmington Shrine Club, also spoke in favor. “We wanted the right business in that property and after looking at all options, so far Christian Brothers has been the best option that we’ve found,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Christian Brothers Automotive is coming to Wilmington
