Car Wash Controversy Brewing At South Sacramento College Square Development
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – There's a car wash controversy in South Sacramento.
City hall staffers want to deny a new car wash from opening in a new College Square development on West Stockton Boulevard – and they claim it's in the name of public safety and health.
Carolyn Hubbard and her dog Bandit use the sidewalks in the College Square development for their daily walks.
"I mean, we can walk all the way around the block," Hubbard said.
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Hubbard also likes to drive, and she says she's not alone in this neighborhood.
"When you come out here in the evening, cars are 'zoom, zoom, zoom,' all the time," Hubbard said.
But in spite of all the cars, the City of Sacramento may stop a proposed car wash from opening here.
A city staff report claims the business would be detrimental to public health and safety, would result in a public nuisance, and would not encourage "walkability."
The city designated this development a transit-oriented zone. It wants less dependence on cars, not more.
The development sits blocks from the Cosumnes River College light rail station.
"While we may have already built car orientated neighborhoods, we're trying to retrofit, those existing suburban neighborhoods, to be more walkable," said Walk Sacramento spokesperson Kirin Kumar.
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Kumar said the recommended denial of the car wash is evidence Sacramento City Hall is serious about reducing reliance on cars.
"It's really important that the city not only creates policies that support transit and walkability but enforces those policies," Kumar said.
The owners of Quick Quack Car wash submitted a plan to invest $3 million into the project.
"We have a lot of customers that get on our Yelp and Facebook page and they want a Quick Quack in their neighborhood," Quick Quack Car Wash Real Estate Developer Efrain Corona said.
Planning commissioners will vote whether to deny Quick Quack the conditional use permit Thursday night.
If they deny the permit, the car wash company will have a chance to appeal.
