Planning Commission approves car wash on Baseline Street with landscaping and noise conditions

The City of San Bernardino Planning Commission voted to approve Conditional Use Permit 20-427 for a proposed 3,400-square-foot express tunnel car wash on a 0.9-acre parcel at the southwest corner of West Baseline Street and H Street, provided the applicant revises the site plan to include enhanced screening and noise mitigation measures and completes additional neighborhood outreach.

Staff recommended denial, citing incompatibility with single-family homes that front Orange Street because both proposed points of ingress and egress are on Orange Street, a short cul-de-sac that three nearby homes depend on for driveway access. Planner Angeline Mendoza told commissioners that although the applicant submitted a noise study showing on-site stationary noise sources meeting the general-plan threshold (60–62 dBA versus a 65 dBA ceiling), the combined effect of trip-generated noise funneled through Orange Street made staff conclude the project would not be harmonious with nearby residences.

Applicant representatives said they had worked with the city through a pre-application and full application process and argued the proposed plan keeps vehicle queuing off the public right-of-way, uses membership-based plate-reader entry for most customers, and can include sound attenuation technologies. "We can do sound mitigation walls. We can do landscaping. We can do higher noise attenuation technologies into this," said applicant representative Daniel Friedman. Patrick Sweetser, director of real estate for Superstar Car Wash, added the operation reclaims water and uses blowers and enclosure details to reduce exterior noise.

Commissioners debated alternatives. Engineering staff advised that adding access directly from H Street would require a reconfiguration the applicant could not accomplish because an easement along the north property line restricts redesign. Commissioners expressed concern about resident impacts but several said they believed the applicants' queueing and noise controls could protect neighbors if the design included stronger screening and operational limits. Commissioners preferred dense landscaping and hedge screening to a high masonry wall to reduce graffiti and avoid blocking the project's architectural treatment.

The commission instructed staff to work with the applicant to revise the plans to show intensified south-side screening (a hedge/landscape buffer acceptable to staff), to document noise-attenuation technology, and to re-notice occupants and owners within a 1,000-foot radius. Vice Chair Quill moved to approve the project with those conditions; the motion passed and the commission directed staff to prepare revised findings for ratification at the next meeting.

Outcome and conditions: Approval was granted with direction to: - Increase landscape screening on the south side and upper perimeter near Orange Street (hedge/buffer preferred to a solid masonry wall), - Require demonstrable noise-attenuation measures (equipment selection, placement and any necessary site mitigation), - Conduct additional neighborhood outreach/notification (1,000-foot radius to occupants and owners) and incorporate any feasible design changes, and - Return written findings for ratification by the commission.

Staff noted that a proposed masonry wall would have triggered additional environmental review because ground disturbance for wall footings could require expanded SEQA analysis; the commission therefore favored planting/landscape screening and operational noise controls instead.

What happens next: The applicant will revise the site plan and noise/landscaping details per the commission directions; staff will prepare updated written findings and conditions for the commission to ratify at a subsequent meeting.