Council rejects alley vacation tied to proposed Mariner car wash expansion

St. Petersburg City Council on Jan. 23 voted 1–5 to deny an application to vacate two alleys and a utility easement that would have allowed redevelopment and expansion of the Mariner Car Wash site at the intersection of 34th Avenue North and 4th Street.

The proposal before council was tied to a site plan the Development Review Commission (DRC) had approved Dec. 4, 2024. City staff recommended approval of the alley vacation with conditions including dedication of a new alley across the applicant’s property and required letters of no-objection from utility providers. Cheryl Bridal, Development Review Services, told council the vacation “will limit overall commercial traffic through the alley” if the new alley is dedicated and commercial access is removed from the existing alley.

Neighbors and the 5 Points Neighborhood Association objected in public comment, citing traffic, queuing, headlight glare, noise and the conversion of a residential lot to serve the expanded commercial operation. Joshua Schulman, president of the 5 Points Neighborhood Association, said the traffic study “was inadequate” for the area and warned that drivers would divert through neighborhood streets if the entrance and exit on 34th back up. Resident Kevin Bell described high speeds and past serious crashes on local residential streets and urged traffic-calming measures before allowing more traffic into the area.

The applicant’s attorney, Don Mastry, said the alley vacation and reconfiguration would reduce commercial traffic on the alley and that the DRC had unanimously recommended approval. Todd Bogner, a transportation planning project manager who lives on 33rd Avenue North, said the scale of the proposed car wash and its projected traffic (as presented by the applicant) made him oppose the reconfiguration that would bring commercial activity closer to residences.

Council members took extended public-record testimony and staff presentations on circulation, queuing capacity and the DRC’s conditions, including a required left-turn restriction to 33rd Avenue North. Transportation staff said the applicant’s revised traffic analyses showed on-site queueing capacity (about 20 stacking spaces) and that intersections would operate at acceptable service levels under the submitted model; they also noted the applicant had relied on Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) data and supplemental counts. Council discussion focused on whether the alley vacation would in practice shift traffic into neighborhood streets and whether the expanded car wash was an appropriate, more intense use for the site.

A motion to approve the vacation failed on the roll call 1–5. The clerk announced: “Motion to approve agenda item J1 fails 1 to 5 with Council Member Floyd voting yes, Council Members Fix, Sanders, Gertes, Givens, Hennowitz, and Harding voting no.” (Transcript names recorded as announced.) The DRC’s site-plan approval remains on the record; council action on the vacation was separate and dispositive for the proposed expansion because the DRC approval was conditioned on the vacation being granted.

Councilmembers who spoke included Vice Chair Hanowicz and Council Member Floyd; Transportation and Development staff including Cheryl Bridal and Tom Whelan answered technical questions during the hearing. The applicant representatives present included the property owner and counsel. No final permits for any expanded operation were issued at the meeting; the vacation was denied and the related special-exception approval that was conditioned on the vacation cannot move forward as proposed.

The decision preserves the current alley configuration; neighbors who testified said they will continue to press concerns about commercial traffic, speed and neighborhood safety through the city’s planning and enforcement channels.