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Residents urge Forest Park council to address Crystal Car Wash noise, traffic and safety concerns
Summary
Two public comments — an emailed submission from Dr. Beatrix Booty and in-person remarks from Monica Burns — described persistent noise, traffic backups tied to Crystal Car Wash and urged the village to update and enforce local ordinances and host a recorded meeting with the owner.
Residents told the Village of Forest Park council on May 23 that noise and traffic from Crystal Car Wash are persisting problems that the village has not adequately addressed.
An emailed statement from Dr. Beatrix Booty said Crystal Car Wash opened in 2018 without a public hearing and has generated a “long slew of nuisance and noise complaints.” The email said the site currently has 27 vacuum stations and that the owner plans to add 17 more; using the arithmetic supplied in the email, that expansion would increase peak throughput by an estimated 102 cars per hour on top of the existing 162, creating a combined 264 cars per hour. The email asked the council to consider whether Harlem, Lexington and adjacent alleys can handle that traffic.
Monica Burns, who spoke in person, said she has appeared before the council about the car wash for a year and described continued “confusion [and] frustration” with enforcement. Burns cited sections of the village code during her remarks (her remarks referenced “section 30-452” on powered equipment noise performance and “section 11.2” on off-street parking requirements for automobile car washes) and said she had been told by Village staff that the car wash met Illinois noise standards. She asked the council to publish and ratify updated, enforceable local ordinances and urged the village to schedule a recorded, neutral meeting at Village Hall with the owner so neighbors could participate safely.
Burns also told the council that neighborhood members had been discouraged from speaking directly to the business because of what she described as the owner’s history of “litigious and hypervigilant” responses; she said she privately received a message from Neil Rambos, identified as the son of the owner, and that a meeting request initially felt controlled until he later agreed to a neutral, recorded meeting.
The council did not take formal action on the car wash complaints during the meeting. No village staff response or enforcement decision was recorded in the meeting minutes for May 23.
Background: the emailed and in-person comments together asked the council to revisit local noise and parking standards, consider county or state guidance where local rules are outdated, and facilitate a mediated, recorded meeting between residents and the business owner.
Next steps: Council members did not announce a specific enforcement action on May 23; residents requested the village schedule a recorded meeting at Village Hall and to publish updated ordinances.
