Proposed car wash near Mast Canal still an issue
Residents living near a proposed car wash on Santa Barbara Boulevard are far from finished expressing their concerns to the Cape Coral City Council.
During the regular meeting at City Hall Wednesday, several residents returned to continue their argument against the proposed Tommy’s Car Wash as they did at the meeting on Aug. 3.
They brought up many of the same issues, such as the impact it would have on manatees, which have been seen there, among the many other species of fish, sharks, dolphins and manta rays.
“Cape Coral is known for its beautiful waterways and for 50 years, these oceanic fish and wildlife have created their own home,” said resident Eva McDermott.
Lynn Jenkins brought up a new reason to not build a car wash: decibel levels. She said a car wash is too loud to be allowed to be put there.
“We saw that decibel levels were between 70 and 85 from five feet to 100 feet off the property. Cape Coral has a noise ordinance that limits commercial businesses to 72 decibels during the day and on the property it’s probably higher and 66 going into residential areas,” Jenkins said. “I’m trying to prevent a noise crime by not allowing this car wash on the property.”
Police Chief Anthony Sizemore said they cannot preemptively enforce a noise ordinance to circumvent the building code. That doesn’t mean they can’t do anything once the business opens and complaints start.
“We will investigate the complaints to be sure they are complying. If they aren’t, we can take education and enforcement action which may lead to a remedy,” Sizemore said.
Councilmember Jennifer Nelson said one remedy could be buffers of anything from greenery to a wall.
“If there is a problem, we can go back to them and say this isn’t enough,” Nelson said. “We had an issue with the bar Rusty’s downtown and they were able to put up a sound wall to block the sound.”
In other business, the City Council unanimously ratified the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the city and the Cape Coral Professional Firefighters Local 2424.
Council also approved the recommendation by City Manager Rob Hernandez to move his yearly evaluation to mirror the time evaluations done for department directors.
“It would be advantageous for both of us to base the rating on the fiscal year. It’s mid-August and it covers a portion of two fiscal years,” Hernandez said. “To make it cleaner and easier and to mirror the process for department directors, consider delaying it to late September or early October.”
Mayor John Gunter brought the measure forward and had no problem with it and thought they could possibly do it every year.
Gunter said he would instruct Assistant City Manager Connie Barron, who has some evaluations that were already completed by council members, to hand them back so they can be completed and updated.
Also, council unanimously approved an ordinance to name the new neighborhood park on Sands Boulevard, the same as the old park, Sands Park, and prohibit overnight parking of commercial vehicles and trailers on three public streets posted with signs.
To reach CHUCK BALLARO, please email news@breezenewspapers.com