Marlborough committee votes to deny special permit for Washville Car Wash at 223 East Main Street

The Marlborough City Council Urban Affairs Committee on Tuesday voted to deny a special permit application from GR Development LLC, doing business as Washville Car Wash, for a tunnel car wash proposed at 223 East Main Street, the former Bank of America building. The committee voted 4–1 to deny the special permit and instructed the city solicitor to draft language to bring the matter to the full City Council for final action.

The vote came after the applicant described equipment and operational controls meant to limit water runoff, queueing and traffic impacts, and after multiple council members raised safety and traffic‑flow concerns for the Route 20/East Main Street corridor. The applicant and city staff also outlined a set of draft special‑permit conditions governing hours, water reclamation, signage, and police enforcement.

Attorney Brian Faulk, the applicant’s counsel, told the committee the proposed car wash uses a system that “recaptures approximately 90% of the water” and includes a chamois drying system to minimize water left on vehicles as they exit. Faulk said the applicant would adopt a salt‑and‑shovel log and other winter procedures as a condition of approval.

Jim Waterman, executive vice president of Washville, said exit spacing depends on seasonality and customer behavior but described typical processing times: “we process about every…it depends on seasonality…generally between 40 seconds to a minute on an exiting vehicle,” with up to two minutes in some cases. Bob Michaud, a transportation consultant with MDM Transportation, summarized…