In a 3-2 vote on May 2, the Columbia County Board of Commissioners denied a request to rezone eight pieces of property for a proposed Ray Ray’s Car Wash along Riverwatch Parkway and Rountree Way.
The request asked for the property to be rezoned from residential to commercial.
Gary Simpson, the applicant, told commissioners the building would’ve been a duplicate of what is currently being built in Augusta by Costco.
“The location we’re talking about here is desirable for us because it allows for easy ingress/egress off of Rountree Way, which has a very low traffic count, and it will not impact Riverwatch Parkway or Washington Road negatively having the car wash there,” Simpson said.
However, Commissioner Gary Richardson, who owns Sparkle Car Wash, had some concerns. He said that Simpson was asked during the planning commission meeting about the noise from the car wash since would be near residential areas.
“In the planning commission, they had a note in there about idling cars, and my comment was the idling cars at the car wash would be pretty much washed out by the traffic on Riverwatch Parkway,” Simpson said. “Cars going by would be louder than a car sitting in a parking lot idling.”
During the meeting, Richardson played a video he took sitting in the middle of Washington Road with cars going by Sparkle Car Wash to demonstrate the noise level of a car wash.
“When it went before the planning commission, the operator, or future operator or owner was questioned about the noise, and the statement was it’s not any louder than an idling car,” Richardson said. “That is not the case.”
Richardson asked how many blowers the car wash will have and what the horsepower was. Simpson said there would be nine, and he didn’t know the horse power, but they would use stealth blowers, which he called “the quietest there are.”
Scott Sterling, planning director, said a few residents asked at the planning commission about the noise from the car wash.
“What was told to them at the planning commission and what’s reality and really was not right,” Richardson said. “It just, it’s different than what was stated to them and is surely wouldn’t want those people to think it was ok and we thought it was idling cars when that wasn’t the case and wasn’t what was presented to them.”
Part of the discussion revolved around the variances required for a car wash in Columbia County, which includes a 50-foot separation from parcel line to parcel line, said Scott Sterling, planning director. However, all the properties in that area are not part of the proposed car wash; some are still residentially zoned.
“That is where that 50-foot separation would either have to be waved by the board or you would have to take some sort of action to eliminate that requirement for this to work,” Sterling said. It would have to be a separate commercial or industrial zoned piece of property between the residential property and the subject property where the car wash is located.”
One of the properties that would be part of the car wash is owned by Barry Fleming, who spoke to commissioners in favor of the rezoning. Fleming said he purchased the property knowing it would be commercial one day.
“I think it’s a reasonable use of that land,” Fleming said. “Across the street those apartment complexes change the whole nature of area, the grocery store did the same, Riverwatch Parkway did the most change of that area and it is not the place no one every expected it to be commercial one day, it’s just a matter of when and where it happens and to me this is an excellent use of that property and I would respectfully ask you (to vote) in favor of rezoning it.”
Richardson agreed the property needs to be commercial, but all of it needs to be commercial, not just some of the parcels.
“It’s not the car wash issue; the whole unit needs to be developed on one piece,” Richardson said. “Then put the carwash in it wherever, move it up, move it away from the residents down on the bottom that thinks they are not going to have any noise when they are sitting on their front porch because they certainly are.”
Because that area is the last big area for Evans Towne Center, he said the commissioners need to do it right when it comes to the development.
“The problem with that Mr. Chairman is it’s not your job to do it,” Fleming said. “It’s your job as a commissioner of this county to make it possible for someone else to do it on private property. Now, you need not to allow them to do that when it’s unreasonable what they are asking for, but when it’s sat there this long and it’s a very reasonable use, it is your job as commissioners, in my opinion, not to stand in the way of progress because you want to see it done differently… Picking and choosing as a commission what kind of businesses go there, in my own opinion, goes beyond the purview if there is a viable option on the table.”
Richardson was the most vocal commissioner during the discussion and said it’s because he’s in the car wash business and understands it. As for whether he should’ve recused himself because Ray Ray’s could’ve been a competitor, he said he has voted in favor of other car washes before.
“You do this right, he requested a rezoning on William Few Parkway, which is very close to two car washes that I own and I voted for that,” Richardson said. “So, in the past, same operator, probably close to the same distances from one of my car washes now, and I voted for it. I want the development to be correct and done right. If it’s done right, it is what it is. Hey, I don’t mind competing with him or anybody else in the car wash, we know what we’re doing. I’ll compete, I don’t have a problem with it.”
Richardson added his vote against the rezoning had nothing to do with the car wash, but with the amount of variances that it would take for a car wash to go in that spot.
The staff recommendation was to disapprove the rezoning from R-2 (single family residential) to C-2 (general commercial for four parcels along Riverwatch and four parcels along Rountree Way.
Commissioners Don Skinner, Alison Couch and Richardson voted to deny the rezoning. The full discussion can be found on the Columbia County YouTube page starting around the eight-minute mark.
Stephanie Hill is a staff writer covering Columbia County government for The Augusta Press. Reach her at stephanie@theaugustapress.com
