HomeMy WebLinkAboutA001 - Letter requesting car washes be allowed in DVCN districts August 8, 2008
Honorable Mayor and Council
515 Clark Ave.
Ames, IA 50010
Dear Mayor and Council,
I would like the council to consider revisiting or clarifying the CVCN ordinance
regarding car washes. After platting the 12th Addition at Northridge and going through
all of the deliberation to get the zoning changed an issue has come up. The staff believes
that the underlying codes states that a car wash can NOT be in the CVCN district by
itself. I don't believe that this was the intention of the council and certainly was not the
intention of the developers.
A car wash is a permitted use in the CCN zone, HOC zone, PRC zone, CCR zone and is
even a permitted use in the Village. It is prohibited in the NC and CVCN zones for some
reason unless it is in conjunction with a convenience store.
My goal would be for council to either change the text to allow a car wash in the CVCN
zone. The reason this was not brought up during all of the deliberation for Northridge
Heights is that I was under the assumption that when the council spelled out the 4 specific
uses for this area, that these uses were allowed. That is why we platted 4 separate lots for
the 4 specific uses. Now the buyer of the car wash land can not get a building permit to
build the car wash because we do not have a convenience store operator willing to start at
this time.
The future owner has submitted all of the necessary paperwork(including the special use
permit) to city staff for review. I met with the planning staff and assistant city manager
Kindred earlier this week and writing a letter to council was one of the options that was
discussed to try to get this issue resolved.
I do think this change should be made for all CVCN zones and not just this particular
project.
I appreciate your consideration
Sincerely,
Chuck Winkleblack