A car sales lot will soon be coming to Troy with a focus on providing international students with vehicles.

Shane Moran of Moran and Associates LLC. Came before the Troy Board of Adjustments Thursday to request that a special exception be made to allow the car lot and a modular mobile sales office to be located at 826 S. Three Notch Street.

Moran spoke on behalf of Mr. Wen Yang, who he said works in the university’s international department and saw a need for international students to be able to get vehicles so they are not stranded waiting for university or public transit or limited to bicycles.

“Some of these places are just too far to bike, plus you have to deal with the weather, and some of the places aren’t reached by the buses,” Moran said. “The idea is to communicate with the students beforehand so they can get a vehicle when they come to the country.”

That wasn’t Moran’s job though Thursday night, he was just there to represent Yang before the board so that the modular office could be placed on the site.

And the board agreed, conditionally. They unconditionally approved for the car sale lot, Rhythm Auto Sales, to be located at the address and temporarily approved for a modular office building to be placed there as well, but asked Moran to come back for reconsideration after 12 months so that the board can determine if the building fits in with the surrounding area. The address is located in a neighborhood commercial zoning district.

Board member Dax Pugh expressed his concern that the modular office may not aesthetically coincide with surrounding businesses.

“The temporary look of that office is much different than the C&H Auto Sales building, which looks like it was built on site and looks sturdier,” Pugh said.

Moran said the modular office is actually built very similarly to that office and is even from the same source.

“The only difference is the size and how big the front has got to be because of where their space is,” Moran said. “It’s about the overall dressing of it. And that is exactly what is going to happen; skirting is going to go around the bottom and permanent steps will be built.”

The board also approved for the temporary location of a portable Sno Biz building in the parking lot of the former Crowe’s building on U.S. Highway 231.

Eric Postell, owner of the Sno Biz, said he is looking to continue operating the snow cone shack for a few more weeks and then again beginning in March 2019.

“I was a football player at Troy and I used to get (snow cones) twice a day and I joked that I could do this cheaper if I just bought it,” Postell said.

And he did, and has been operating Sno Biz shops across the state for the last 25 years.

The board approved his request for the next 14 months.

The board also approved a 96.5 square foot wall sign for Troy Self Storage at the U.S. Highway 231 facility and approved the operation of a new and used tire store, Moe’s Tires at 210 E. College Street, which planning and zoning administrator Melissa Sanders said was actually once a tire store before.

The planning commission will meet Thursday, August 23 at 4 p.m. in the City Council Chambers.