WILMINGTON, N.C. — According to www.portcitydaily.com, although the city council will have the final say, the city’s planning commission struck down plans for a new carwash at one of the city’s top up-and-coming intersections.

In a 4-3 vote, the commission denied a rezoning request for H2 Turbo Express Car Wash on a 1.5-acre lot at Independence Blvd. and Carolina Beach Rd.

Some planning commissioners rejected the plans due to the potential for another carwash to come in nearby.

The adjacent vacant lot is zoned specifically for a carwash; the land owners would need to undergo another planning process for any other use.

Cindee Wolf of Design Solutions, who applied for the zoning change on behalf of H2 Turbo’s owner, said that the owners of the adjacent lot expressed no interest in developing a carwash.

Wolf spoke to the commissioners about the success of the carwash industry and said “business is booming” at H2 Turbo’s other location on Oleander Dr.

Since June 2020, the parcel of land in question has been zoned for a commercial building, allowing uses for retail, office, personal service or a drive-thru restaurant  — not a carwash.

The city is also in the process of overhauling its land development code, which is over 40 years old.

As the proposed new regulations are currently written, carwashes would be prevented from locating within a half mile of each other.

In addition, the new code says that open bays would need to face the street.

Wolf defended the proposed carwash against the new code, noting that only the orientation of the tunnel did not conform to the new rules.

The commission also took issue with a lack of tree preservation and vegetative screening as well as the design of the building, which it didn’t think fit in with the design of such a visible intersection.

The city council is expected to vote on the matter on June 1st.

Read the original story here.