Winter2021_SSCWN_web

Self serve coming to Southington, Connecticut
Plans for a self serve car wash have been submitted
to town officials in Meriden, Connecticut,
according to a Record-Journal story.
The January 22, 2021, story said Michael Riccio,
Michael Fasulo and David Carabetta own three
parcels of land and when they bought the property
about seven years ago, they had intended to
market it to a drug store chain but those companies
began to slow their growth around that time.
“We had a lot of interest from drug stores and
gas stations and all kinds of stuff, but nothing ever
came to fruition,” Riccio said in the story. “When
the drug stores started pulling back, it shrunk our
pool of potential buyers.”
Carabetta already owns Class Act Auto Wash
in Meriden, Connecticut, which is a self-service
car wash with a 1950s theme.
Construction will hopefully start in the Spring.
“We are beyond excited to finally clean it up,” Riccio
said in the story. “We know it’s been an eyesore
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for a long time. It was a product of the market.”
Plans are for there to be five wash stations including
automatic wash, truck and self-service areas.
Sharon Blanchette, a resident who lives next to
the proposed car wash, said having a car wash next
door would not bother her.
“Right now, the way it looks, it’s just an eyesore,”
Blanchette said in the story. “I’m glad they ’re going
to put something there.”
Car wash wants to add on meat cutting and packing facility
In Andover, Hampshire, England, a car wash that
was raided by police for illegally operating as a
meat processing plant is now applying for a permit
to allow for it to legally pack mean. In November
2020, over 5,200 pounds of meat was seized after
council officers stormed the site, finding beef, goat
and lamb in “poor conditions”.
A planning application for the site was submitted
on January 28, according to the Andover Advertiser.
“The new facility will have a covered van delivery
and dispatch area for the meat facility, with a car
wash area being maintained the other side of the
former petrol station’s steel columns nearer to the
road. The hours of its opening are not yet known.”
If approved, the application would allow for the
legitimate packing and cutting of meat at the site,
the story said, following a prohibition of such activity
at the site following a council enforcement raid.
Another similar raid took place in Devizes, England,
back in October, where fresh meat was being
cut in “grossly unhygienic” conditions at a car wash.
The facility’s operator, Gent Jakupi, moved his
operations to the new car wash site iwithout registeringwith
the council or Food Standards Agency.
This site was then raided on November 27. At
the time, according to the story, Jakupi said that
he was buying the meat fresh and shipping it the
same day, so was unaware that he needed a licence.
He added that his premises were cleaned thoroughly,
describing the floor as “so clean I would be
happy to eat off it.”
However Councillor Simon Jacobs, cabinet
member for public health and public protectionnd,
disagreed and said officers were “shocked” by
the conditions.
Jacobs was quoted as saying, “They found that
even the most basic requirements such as clean
food rooms, a hot water supply, washing facilities,
the control of pests and basic welfare facilities for
food handlers were missing. This business has put
their customers at risk.”
The application is currently under consideration
by Wiltshire Council, with a decision to be made
in due course, the story said.
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