An Auto Spa Express Car Wash will fill one of the six commercial lots bordering the proposed Bel Air Costco at the intersection of Plumtree and Emmorton Road.

The plans for the car wash propose a 5,223 square foot wash. The company has another express car wash in Bel Air off East Churchville Road that operates from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.

A sign posted at the new car wash’s proposed site indicates that a community input meeting will be held for the proposal at 6 p.m., July 30, at the Bel Air branch of the Harford County Public Library.

Community input meetings are the first step in Harford County’s development process. The meetings provide residents the opportunity to comment on proposals and directly ask the developer questions about projects.

When plans for a 162,000 square-foot Costco store with 821 parking spots and a 24-pump gas station at the corner of Plumtree and Emmorton roads were introduced last year, residents from nearby neighborhoods raised concerns about traffic. Many residents claimed that existing traffic conditions are already dangerous and said they fear the global members-only warehouse chain would bring more delays and increase safety risk to the surrounding roadways.

The development’s traffic planner, Traffic Concepts Inc., estimated the number of trips Costco would generate based on data from the Institute of Transportation Engineers Generation Manual, a nationally accepted, industry standard document.

Planners used the same manual to estimate that the car wash could draw 60 trips on weekday evenings and 155 trips between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturdays. Traffic planners noted that trip generation data for weekday mornings is not available for car wash classifications in the Institute of Transportation Engineers Generation Manual.

In a September response to the Traffic Impact Study, officials with Harford County’s Department of Planning and Zoning indicated that the trip generation numbers for the car wash are incorrect and should be revised to show 73 daily weekday trips.

Costco is classified in the manual as a “discount club” which is a classification that was created in the 1980s. Discount clubs generate some of the highest traffic in the manual, however, through the use of existing Costco traffic studies, a third party traffic expert alleges that the 5,500 daily visitors estimated for the Bel Air Costco, severely underestimates site visits by thousands per day.

Similar to the traffic expert — who was funded by an attorney representing the family that owns Klein’s ShopRite, a grocery store located less than a mile from the proposed Costco — Maryland State Highway officials say the project’s proposed traffic data does not reflect the popularity of Costco fuel.

Officials outlined in a recent response to the project’s Traffic Impact Study that the “discount club” classification combines estimated traffic volumes for stores with, and without fuel pumps, but does not account for the amount of customers Costco fuel has. State officials urged the planners to use existing Costco Traffic data studies from locations with similar square-footage and number of fueling stations.

The traffic planners denied the request citing that Harford County code requires them to use the  Institute of Transportation Engineers Generation Manual and nothing else.

The car wash is one of a few businesses planned for the “Costco Wholesale Bel Air Village” project, with project planners outlining an 8,000 square foot fast-food restaurant and 29,000 square feet of high-turnover sit-down restaurant space on commercial lots surrounding the Costco.

Plans for the two fast-food restaurants and sit-down restaurants have yet to be submitted.

Traffic planners have proposed 13 traffic enhancements to surrounding roadways to address the traffic influx, such as expanding Plumtree Road from two lanes to five, a traffic signal at Emmorton Road and Bright Oak Drive and widening Emmorton Road to accommodate acceleration and deceleration lanes.

All of the enhancements, however, will bring all failing nearby intersections to a D level of service which is on the threshold of failing, per the county code’s A-F rating scale for intersection operations.

With nearby intersections performing on the threshold of failure based on allegedly low traffic projections and the addition of the car wash and other businesses, residents fear the Costco Wholesale Bel Air Village will significantly reduce the quality of life for neighboring communities.

As of this week, Harford County has only approved the Bel Air Costco’s forest conservation plan. Several other steps must be completed before the county grants final approval.

Have a news tip? Contact Matt Hubbard at mhubbard@baltsun.com, 443-651-0101 or @mthubb on X.