Parksville city council has voted down a business proposal on the Alberni Highway, saying a busy intersection full of cars is no place for a car wash.
The motion to rezone 423 Alberni Hwy and amend the official community plan was voted down 4-3 during the Dec. 2 council meeting, with Mayor Ed Mayne, Coun. Al Grier, Coun. Adam Fras and Coun. Marilyn Wilson voting against.
The proposed car wash was put forth by TKG Horvath Holdings Ltd. The company operates Port Posh Wash in Port Alberni and a number of other car washes.
The company cited a number of economic benefits to the city. They planned to purchase the area of Despard Avenue beside the lot for a proposed $160,000, complete offsite works to the tune of $146,000 and spend an estimated $14,400 worth of pedestrian enhancements to the front of the site.
The company also offered to donated $1,250 to the Parksville fire department.
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The proposed car wash would have had the capacity to wash larger trucks and RVs.
The major concern among council was that the area was too high-traffic to support a car wash.
“Tremendous amount of traffic. And I can see with this car wash, just does nothing but bring in far more traffic in that one area. I’d have a hard time passing this, because I think it’s going to be just too busy an intersection, and there’s not the space there to handle all the cars,” said Grier.
Mayne seconded this opinion, saying he thinks that there are better uses for the land.
“This will become probably the busiest corner in the city of Parksville. It is a high-traffic area, and quite frankly I’m not seeing a car wash being as the image I would like to portray coming into the city from the highway. I think there are a lot better uses for it under the current zoning,” said Mayne.
Coun. Doug O’Brien also voiced concern that the car wash would create icy patches on the road, and that the proposed 24-hour nature of the self-serve bays would be disruptive to the nearby Trillium Lodge nursing home.
Coun. Teresa Patterson asked a number of questions relating to security for the 24-hour bays. The company responded by saying that their washes usually are not staffed overnight, but are secured with anywhere between 18 and 24 cameras that stream to their computers and phones for constant monitoring.
The company also said they would go with whatever the community’s wishes were in terms of operating time.