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To the Editor:

As a Methuen resident for 45 years, I am respectfully opposing the siting of a Scrub a Dub car wash facility at the current Fireside Restaurant venue. The immediate vicinity at Cross Street and Pelham Street is already saturated with nearby car wash entities.

The intersection in question has historically exhibited a documented bottleneck of traffic. In fact, it is well-known that the area has long served as a viable shortcut for New Hampshire residents seeking to avoid Route 28 traffic.

On many weekday mornings, it is not uncommon to experience a discernible vehicle backup stretching to the Marsh Grammar School on Pelham Street, coupled with a significant impasse on Cross Street.

Has the company even offered a mitigation plan to the community, because I haven't read anything in the local papers? It would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to accomplish any meaningful mitigation, if not more. And merely allowing for better ingress or egress into the site does not constitute infrastructure improvement in my book.

Methuen already has car wash venues on Haverhill Street (off of Route 93), Pelham Street (2 existing businesses) and Pleasant Valley Street (off of Route 213). Why add more? Sadly, we have a hotel riddled with code violations, a vacant Outback Steakhouse site and a Fireside Restaurant site that could be easily converted into a new eatery, perhaps a breakfast and lunch venue.

Do we want Methuen to be known as a destination community, or a convenience community? The choice is clear.

Kenneth Willette

Methuen