Council narrows new automobile-service zoning, keeps car washes subject to special permit and sets 8 a.m.–6 p.m. hours

The Malden City Council on June 10 adopted zoning changes that create a new use category for automobile service surfaces, require an exclusive queuing area, and set default operating hours for car washes while keeping full-service car washes subject to special-permit review.

Councilor James Winslow, speaking for the rules and ordinance committee, said the committee and the planning board reviewed two linked papers: one to add a zoning use category for automobile services and another to set hours of operation for car washes. The council accepted the planning board recommendation that automobile wash operations must provide an exclusive queuing area and rejected the planning board’s recommendation to allow full-service car washes by right. “Because these can be very impactful based on the neighborhood setting, it was important to still have the special permit process to allow closer neighborhood review,” Winslow said.

Councilors amended the zoning language to require an exclusive queue area measuring 9 feet by 180 feet to reduce street backups. After amendment and debate, the ordinance (paper 389-24 as amended) was enrolled unanimously.

A companion ordinance (paper 402-24) changes the city’s hours-of-operation rules to list car washes as 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. as the standard hours; licensees may petition the council to request extended hours. Winslow said the change will allow the city to negotiate conditions with operators who seek extended hours, and councilors noted that some existing operators hold special permits (the city planner, Michelle Romero, told the committee that Sunny’s on Eastern Ave operates under a special permit and that the city matched Sunny’s hours in the new rule).

Councilor Cica raised concern about limiting self-service vacuum bays, asking that the rule not effectively require self-service bays to close at 6 p.m. Winslow and other councilors said licensees may seek extended hours through the council’s permitting process; they discussed that the ordinance mirrors hours already in effect at some existing permitted sites.

Both the zoning amendment and the hours ordinance were enrolled by roll call votes and recorded as unanimously adopted. The council’s action keeps a formal review path (special permit) for full-service car washes and creates a limited-hours framework intended to reduce neighborhood impacts such as queueing onto public streets.

The council did not identify any immediate administrative budgetary actions tied to these ordinances; planning staff will apply the new standards in future permitting and special-permit reviews.