West Windsor Car Wash - Part 1

A few people have chosen to frame the topic of adding a car wash to our town as a controversial issue. Here is a clip of my public comments at the March 9th West Windsor Council meeting on the topic of a zoning ordinance to allow a commercial car wash, which I voted “yes” to.

If you don’t wish to watch me talk, here are some key points:

• The sole issue before the council was whether to approve a change to allow a car wash in lieu of a previously approved drive-thru restaurant at the corner of a main road (Route 571 and Southfield Road).
• It will be adjacent to a Quick Check which had already been approved awhile ago
• The other 3 corners all already have commercial uses with shopping centers and a gas station.
• There are no houses adjacent - the closest ones are well over 100 yards away, separated by a farm field and trees.
• The property is a small irregular-shaped triangle plot of land that is not pedestrian-friendly and realistically has very limited uses.
• The property currently has vacant, boarded up dilapidated homes that have been there for 30+ years and are an eyesore.
• The NJ Department of Environmental Protection regulates commercial car washes. Their website states “If you wash your car in the driveway, you might as well wash it in the lake. Take your car to a car wash facility, rather than washing it yourself. Commercial car washes treat and recycle the water.” (the Watershed Institute, based in nearby in Pennington, NJ, provides the same advice).
• The West Windsor Planning Board determined that a car wash at the site was not inconsistent with the township’s Master Plan, including statements by an expert land planning consultant, and attorney who has 50 years of experience in land use and real estate law.

Again, the sole issue before the Council was to change from a drive-thru restaurant to a car wash. In summary, this was an easy, common-sense decision for me to vote “yes”. I’ll have more to say in Part II, coming soon.

Joe Charles

West Windsor Councilman