Residents Win Round in Carwash Battle

Local residents appear to have won a round in their fight against a proposed carwash at Balboa Boulevard and Rinaldi Street on land that is next to their homes.

The neighbors say the carwash would ruin their quiet neighborhood because of the noise and traffic it would generate.

Last week, the Los Angeles City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee declined to recommend approval of the carwash, instead telling its would-be developer to talk to neighbors and try to come up with a commercial project that would be more acceptable to the neighborhood.

“I don’t believe carwashes belong next to residential areas,” said Councilman Hal Bernson, chairman of the committee and representative for the area.

The developer, Kim Mascheroni, wanted to build a carwash on the northeast corner of Balboa and Rinaldi at the site of an old gas station. The carwash would occupy two commercially zoned lots and a residential lot facing Rinaldi.

Gary Morris, a lobbyist working for Mascheroni, said the carwash would be configured in a way to protect neighbors from noise, and that it would generate far fewer car trips to the area than would a mini-mall or fast-food restaurant.

In October, the city Planning Commission approved an exception to the Granada Hills Specific Plan that would have allowed the project to be built, but neighbors appealed the commission’s decision to the City Council.

Last week, the planning committee requested that Mascheroni come back with a revamped proposal in six months, at which point the panel is expected to make a final decision. Bernson stopped short of saying he would definitely vote against any carwash proposal.