Flagship proposes demolition of self-service carwash bays at Rollins Avenue location in Rockville

Flagship Car Wash is proposing to demolish the self-service carwash bays at its 975 Rollins Avenue location in Rockville. The proposal is part of a plan to update the existing mechanical carwash, and improve vehicular circulation through the property. Under the latest Rockville zoning, a carwash is a non-conforming use now at this location. Flagship can continue operations here, as its last approvals from the late 1990s are grandfathered in, as the property was under a different zoning then.

Existing site configuration with the
self-service carwash bays

If approved by the City of Rockville, Flagship will demolish the self-service bays, and replace them with 25 vacuum spaces and an unspecified number of full-service carwash finishing spaces. The vacuum space area will also contain seating for Flagship customers. 

Proposed configuration with new
vacuum lanes and updated traffic pattern

A new traffic circulation pattern would also be established for the property. Customers would continue to enter with their vehicles from the Rollins Avenue driveway. They would initially be in a single line, but then be funneled into one of three stacking lanes. At the direction of an employee, the customer would exit their stacking lane, and enter a roundabout. From the roundabout, the customer would drive into one of the lanes for the mechanical car wash tunnel. After exiting the wash tunnel, the customer would have the choice of turning into the new full-service finishing lanes and vacuum space area, or exiting the property altogether onto Rollins Avenue.

Close-up of proposed queue and roundabout
for vehicles entering mechanical car wash tunnel

No changes are planned for the mechanical car wash, which will continue to operate. Flagship says it will coordinate the demolition process with its contractor, so that the disconnection of water and electrical utilities from the self-service bays will not affect service to other utilty customers in the area. If approved, the changes are expected to reduce traffic to the site, as Flagship will lose all self-service customers who do not switch to the mechanical carwash.

Close-up of proposed vacuum lanes area
and full-service finishing lanes