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Council denies proposed car wash after neighbors and local operators object
Summary
At a April 3 zoning hearing, the council denied a special-use rezoning to permit a car wash at the site listed on the agenda as 15015 Just Musburger after residents and nearby car-wash operators raised noise, traffic and privacy concerns; a developer representative presented a decibel study.
SAN ANTONIO — The City Council’s zoning hearing on April 3 denied a request to allow a car wash at the site listed on the agenda as 15015 Just Musburger after neighbors and competing car-wash operators urged the council to reject the proposal because of noise, traffic and privacy concerns.
The item — listed on the agenda as a rezoning from C-2 to C-2 with a specific use for a car wash — required a supermajority, the council said. Dozens of residents and local business owners spoke in opposition, describing repeated traffic, potential cut-through driving in nearby neighborhoods and noise from equipment.
Local car-wash operator Brandon Packcock told the council the intersection near the proposed site is already congested and that additional car-wash traffic would worsen local backups. A neighbor who said he lives immediately behind the proposed site described the parcel as “very small” and warned it would exceed local dimensional limits for the zoning change, asking the council to deny the rezoning.
A representative for the developer, who identified himself as Marc, told the council the applicant had conducted a noise study and that the study measured a baseline of about 59 decibels and predicted a rise to roughly the low-60s (the developer cited figures of about 61–63 dB). Marc said the project would include 15 feet of landscaping buffer and a 40-foot tunnel for washing operations, which he said would keep vacuum and operational noise set back from nearby yards. He also described the operator as locally involved in community fundraising.
Councilmember White said he supported denial, citing the proximity to houses and constituent opposition. After a motion to deny was seconded, the council moved to deny the rezoning request.
The council did not record a roll-call tally in the posted transcript for the item; the motion to deny carried. The item required a supermajority according to the agenda language presented at the hearing.
Speakers at the hearing also raised privacy concerns, saying customers and employees at an automated wash could overlook adjacent private yards. Several speakers said the proposed use would be inconsistent with surrounding uses and that the neighborhood already has multiple car washes.
The denial resolves the proposal for the site as presented at the April 3 hearing. The council advanced other zoning items at the same hearing.
