Plans for a new Flagship Carwash express location near the intersection of Leesburg Pike (Route 7) and Dranesville Road north of Herndon have won support from the Fairfax County Planning Commission.
“I think we’ve gotten to a really good point with this application,” Dranesville District Commissioner Alyssa Batchelor-Causey said after discussion and before a final vote on Wednesday night.
As detailed in an application originally submitted in late 2024, Flagship seeks to raze the restaurant and dry-cleaning establishment currently on the 1.04-acre site at 1013 Dranesville Road.
Rezoning and special exception approvals from the Board of Supervisors — which has a public hearing scheduled for Feb. 3 — are required for the project to move forward.
The new facility will augment seven existing Flagship operations in western Fairfax and eastern Loudoun counties, said Shane Murphy, a land use attorney with Miles & Stockbridge who represented Flagship at the commission meeting. That includes two locations in the Herndon area at 632 Grant Street and 2501 Centreville Road.
“They’re frequently very busy, which results in lines,” Murphy said of conditions at nearby sites. “It’s led Flagship to conclude they need to have another location in this vicinity to fill this gap.”
The new facility is expected to draw from the Herndon, Reston, Sterling and Great Falls areas, he said.
Based on their firsthand experiences, planning commissioners did not dispute the popularity of the Flagship sites.
“Flagship Carwashes are to car washes like Chick-fil-A is to a restaurant. They are extremely popular,” Braddock District Commissioner Mary Cortina said.
But there is a downside to the popularity, Cortina said, pointing to a Flagship operation on Little River Turnpike (Route 236) where the crush of drivers trying to enter at times leads to backups spilling onto the roadway.
Cortina said she was “a little concerned” about a similar occurrence along the Dranesville Road service drive leading into the new location.
Company officials have pledged to have staff watch traffic levels and take steps to prevent spillovers from occurring. The traffic-flow design calls for five vehicles to be accommodated at any given time inside the self-serve building, with room for 10 more to queue on the parcel itself.
Despite praise for the overall project, Batchelor-Causey did have some concerns.
“This is a tight site” for what is planned, she said.
Flagship operates three different types of car washes: full-service, self-service (express) and a hybrid. The Dranesville Road facility will be self-service, with drivers using the wash facilities, then pulling into exterior slots for vacuuming.
“People really seem to like this express service,” Cortina said.
The location will use three large underground tanks to reclaim water used in the operation. About 40% of water will be filtered and reused for later washing, while all water used for rinse cycles will be new.
As part of its proffer agreements, Flagship will fund striping of crosswalks on both Dranesville Road and the service road, as well as a pedestrian refuge on Dranesville Road.
The two parcels to be combined and rezoned are located immediately south of Sugarland Shell, located at the southeast corner of Route 7 and Dranesville Road (Route 228).
Flagship does not own the parcel; attorney Murphy said the property owner was working with the existing tenants — the eatery Pollo Peru and DryClean Center — to find new homes.
County staff supported the recommendation for approval, with no speakers for or against the project turning up to the Jan. 7 meeting.
Commission members sworn in for new terms
At the Jan. 7 meeting, Planning Commission members John Carter (Hunter Mill) and Walter Clarke (Mount Vernon) were sworn in for new terms of office.
Commissioners will elect officers for 2026 at their next meeting on Jan. 14.
“We have another busy year ahead of us,” said Commission Chair Phil Niedzielski-Eichner, an at-large member.
According to Niedzielski-Eicher, the agenda for 2026 includes:
- A review of the county government’s 2027-2031 capital improvement program, which will be released in February as part of the county’s proposed budget
- Support for county efforts to streamline the development process for housing
- Consideration of amendments to the county’s procedure for considering site-specific comprehensive plan amendments
Dryclean Center image via Google Maps
