By Ted Carter
Tybee will be getting a car wash operation but the business will have to use water sparingly.

The pledge by car wash owner Evelyn Ballinger to limit use to 600 gallons a day helped sway City Council members in September to reject the Planning Commission’s recommendation to deny approval of her site plan petition.

 Tybee will be getting a car wash operation but the business will have to use water sparingly.

The pledge by car wash owner Evelyn Ballinger to limit use to 600 gallons a day helped sway City Council members in September to reject the Planning Commission’s recommendation to deny approval of her site plan petition.

In the recommendation for denial, planning commissioners argued that if the city saw fit to cut off the public showers on the beach to avoid over-use of water, it shouldn’t be allowing water to go down the drain at a new car wash.

The Sept. 10 over-ride of the Planning Commission came on a 3-1 vote, with Dick Smith, Wanda Doyle and Charlie Brewer in the affirmative and Paul Wolff dissenting. Mayor Jason Buelterman had asked for a delay until a platting issue with the car wash property at 1116 Hwy. 80 East could be resolved but Smith moved to go ahead with a vote.

The car wash petition received a boost by virtue of it being among business uses exempted from state water restrictions.

The Planning Commission recommendation for denial came on a 3-0 vote on Aug. 18 with Randi Byran, George Dausey and Anne Miller voting to deny. Lisa McKenzie recused herself, saying she is a friend of petitioner Ballinger. The remaining planning panel members were absent.

Dausey had argued that by cutting off the public showers on 13th Street but allowing water to go toward washing cars the city would be putting a higher priority on cars than people.

Mark Boswell, an engineer for the car wash petitioner, countered that the people who had their cars washed would be paying for the service while the showers were being used free of charge. Thus, he said, there’s no correlation between the two.

In their recommendation for denial planning commissioners did not specify that the site plan failed to meet city regulations or code provisions.

The business will wash cars with high-pressure hoses and by hand and will dry by hand as well. Its petition specifies it will wash about 20 cars a day and limit is use to 600 gallons of water daily. It will not recycle the water it uses, according to Boswell, who said the reused water becomes unsuitable for washing after a couple of cycles..

Ballinger will need to correct a plat with the lots on which the car wash is to be situated. The property was formerly to be used for residential and has been platted as five lots of 60 feet and three lots of 100 feet. City Attorney Edward “Bubba” Hughes advised the council the plat would need to conform to the 3-lot size before a permit for the construction of the car wash can begin.