A used car dealership got a couple steps closer to being able to move from one side of M-24 to the other.

Last week, the Oxford Township Planning Commission voted 7-0 to grant both special land use and preliminary site plan approval to Clean Cars, Inc. for the former Burger King site located at 583 S. Lapeer Rd.

The approvals were conditioned on Clean Cars, which has been in business since 1999, seeking and obtaining approval for dimensional variances from the township zoning board of appeals.

Currently located at 157 S. Washington St. in the village, Clean Cars is planning to move to the 1.194-acre site, located on the east side of M-24, just south of the village. The site, zoned C-2 general commercial, has been unused since December 2015 when the fast food restaurant closed its doors.

Richard Skalnek, owner of Clean Cars and the majority shareholder of the Skalnek Ford dealership in Orion Township, explained the move is designed to double the size of the business and eventually, consolidate Clean Cars’ Imlay City location with the Oxford dealership.

The site would only be used to store and sell vehicles and provide financing for them.

“We don’t do any service work for customers,” Skalnek told commissioners. “(There will be) no (auto) part sales or any body shop type work.”

The former restaurant will be renovated and converted into the dealership’s office. The front portion of the building, which once contained a play area for kids, will be removed.

Two stalls for washing vehicles will be located in the rear of the building, while the front will house the sales and accounting offices. Skalnek estimated 60 percent of the building will be used as office space.

Skalnek doesn’t anticipate the dealership being an intense use of the property.

“We don’t have a lot of foot traffic or car traffic,” he said.

According to Skalnek, the “kicking tires” style of vehicle shopping is a thing of the past. Nowadays, most people shop around on the internet.

“When a customer comes to us, they basically know what they’re looking for,” he said. “We actually process a lot of their paperwork on-line today.”

On average, Skalnek told commissioners Clean Cars sees “about four customers a day.”

“It’s not a lot,” he said.

“We can go a day or two without talking to a customer,” Skalnek noted. “It’s just the way it is.”

The old Burger King parking lot is going to be fixed up – new asphalt and new lighting – to accommodate a total of 78 spaces, 62 of which will be used to store and display vehicle inventory. The remainder are for customers and employees.

Skalnek said there will be anywhere from $600,000 to $650,000 worth of inventory on the lot.

When the Imlay City and Oxford locations are consolidated, Skalnek indicated there will be a total of nine employees working there, plus three to four part-time drivers.

Per the township ordinance, a safety path is required along the S. Lapeer Rd. (M-24) frontage. Clean Cars can either construct it or contribute money to the township’s safety path fund.

According to township Engineer Jim Sharpe, the safety path’s estimated cost is $11,775.

Skalnek was concerned about what would happen if he paid to install a safety path and then it got ripped out by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) when the M-24 reconstruction project happens. It was scheduled to occur in 2019, but then the project got pushed back to 2020.

“If MDOT ever does decide to do any M-24 work, they would be responsible to replace (the path) if they tore it out,” explained Planning Commissioner Jack Curtis, who serves on the township’s safety path committee.

Curtis said a safety path is needed in front of this property because there’s already a goat path there. A goat path is a well-worn trail of dirt that’s created by the foot traffic of pedestrians regularly cutting across a grassy area.

“I would ask that you put (a safety path) on the plan and install it, please,” Curtis said.