Neighbors tell Planning Commission car wash, hours and wall height threaten quality of life

At the public hearing for the Shell station project, neighbors spoke in detail about long-standing nuisances at the site and the potential additional impacts a car wash and late hours would bring.

Owen Byrd, who said he had filed comment letters and is close to adjacent residents, told commissioners the community supports a rehabilitated station but not a car wash and asked for three changes: screening and security at the property line, shifting utilities to the University Avenue frontage, and stronger landscaping with 48‑inch trees. "Number 1, make our property line safe, passive, and screened... Number 2, no car wash," he said. Adjacent resident Roxana Salazar, who has lived next to the site for 26 years, told the commission she is "okay with the convenience store, but am very much in opposition to the proposed car wash," citing bedrooms that face the proposed car wash placement and prior incidents of late-night noise and refuse.

Several speakers asked the commission to continue the project so staff and applicant can refine measures or to deny the car wash outright. Commissioners probed the applicant and staff about peer-reviewed noise studies, police call logs for the site, planting dimensions and root barriers, and sight-lines at the Bell/University intersection. Staff said peer reviewers and city engineering consultant found the proposed mitigations would keep noise below the city's 55-decibel standard and that traffic analysis estimated about 235 daily trips, most of which staff characterized as pass-by trips.