Aero Estates homeowners fighting plans to build car wash at 83rd Street and Route 59 in Naperville
Jet Brite Car Wash won’t be building a second car wash in Naperville if Aero Estates residents have anything to say about it.
The company is asking the city to annex 2.3 acres of unincorporated vacant land at the northeast corner of 83rd Street and Route 59 so it can build a one-story, 6,370-square-foot car wash with 43 parking spaces, mostly for customers to vacuum their vehicles.
It’s other location is at 850 E. Ogden Ave.
A dozen homeowners in Aero Estates, an airport-centered neighborhood of single-family homes in unincorporated Naperville Township, voiced their concerns about the drainage problems, traffic, safety issues and the noise a car wash would generate at the Naperville Planning and Zoning Commission meeting this week.
The city also received a petition signed by 43 neighbors and more than 30 emails from Naperville area residents in opposition.
Donald Schuman, who lives in Aero Estates, said in the past the city has worked with Naper Aero to ensure lighting near the airport does not interfere or cause a safety hazard to aviation operations.
His concern was lighting at the proposed car wash has the potential of ruining the night vision for pilots.
He also said traffic westbound on 83rd Street already blocks Aero Drive and in some cases Stearman Drive, making it difficult for residents to get out of their subdivision.
Eddie Bedford, Naperville Township supervisor and director of road services, said drainage along 83rd Street is an issue he is trying to address.
Adding more cement and blacktop for a corner development is not going to help the situation because the topography drains the water from Route 59 to a pond on the east side of Aero Estates.
Bedford said he presented a $195,000 proposal to DuPage County for correcting the problem. If the car wash is approved, the plan will need to be reworked, he said.
City planner Gabrielle Mattingly also said staff could not recommend approval of the car wash.
“We’ve consistently raised concerns about the overall intensity of the car wash at this location given the current size and configuration of the site plan and again with this adjacency to neighboring residential properties,” Mattingly said.
Staff had issues with the number of cars that can wait in line for a wash (three lanes with 42 cars), the noise generated by the turbines needed for the vacuuming systems, and the vacuum stalls located in proximity to homes, she said.
Dave Dalesandro, who represented Jet Brite at the Wednesday meeting, said the company is willing to work with the city to mitigate concerns, such as installing a taller fence made of noise-canceling materials, using means to better contain turbine noise and eliminating music speakers in the vacuum area closest to homes.
The company found that by playing music as people were vacuuming, customers were less likely to blast their car stereos with music that was too loud or not be appropriate for all ages, Dalesandro said.
During discussions, commissioners said they’d like to see stipulations placed on the car wash, including raising the height of the wall to 10 feet, eliminating music in the vacuum area near homes, and closing the car wash at 8 p.m.
The suggested daily hours of operation are 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Despite the stipulations, commissioners voted 3-5 against recommending the Naperville City Council approve the car.
