Gate to block car wash traffic approved for Birmingham neighborhood
The Birmingham City Council voted Tuesday to put up a gate blocking off a public street near Vulcan Park to prevent car wash traffic from backing up into a neighborhood.
The city will put up a locked gate, accessible only to emergency vehicles, blocking off the residential portion of 20th Avenue South.
A Tidal Wave Auto Spa is under construction on the property at the northeast corner of the intersection where Vulcan Park has its entrance at the corner of Valley Avenue and Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard, formerly 21st Street South.
It’s the location of a former McDonald’s and a convenience store. The McDonald’s was historically significant in the capture of Eric Robert Rudolph, who bombed the New Woman All Women Clinic in 1998. Witnesses at the McDonald’s saw Rudolph walk over Red Mountain and get in his truck and were able to follow him and get a tag number, as documented in Alabama Media Group’s new 8-part podcast, “American Schrapnel,” which will be released July 30.
After the demolition of the McDonald’s and the Vulcan Mini Mart, Vulcan Storage, LLC, sold the 1.1-acre property at 2001-2017 Richard Arrington Jr Blvd South this year for $2.1 million to TWAS Properties, LLC, operator of Tidal Wave Auto Spa.
Tidal Wave Auto Spa is an industry-leading conveyor car wash company founded in 1999 by Scott and Hope Blackstock in Thomaston, Georgia, that now has about 275 locations across 30 states.
It’s one of the top conveyor car washes in the country has been included in the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing companies several times since 2020.
A group of neighborhood residents opposed to the car wash have been urging the city to put up the gate.
John and Susan Barnacastle, who live in the neighborhood, said residents found out about the plan in September 2023, when it was presented at Redmont Nieghborhood Association meeting.
Residents voted against it. But Susan Barnacastle said the car wash representatives were undeterred and said they could proceed since a car wash was allowed under zoning regulations.
The city had passed a moratorium against new car washes, but a judge ruled that Tidal Wave had beaten the deadline when the moratorium began.
Alabama Media Group has reached out to Tidal Wave for comment but has not heard back.
In the meantime, construction continues, with cement trucks and dump trucks driving through 20th Avenue South, Mrs. Barnacastle said.
“They haven’t been good neighbors,” she said.
She said neighbors wonder how an already congested intersection at the border of Birmingham and Homewood will be able to handle additional traffic from an automated car wash.
“It’s a terrible corner,” Mrs. Barnacastle said. “There’s a wreck here once a week.”
At the neighborhood presentation, residents were told the car wash projected 300 cars coming through a day.
“It’s almost impossible taking a left turn into our neighborhood,” Mrs. Barnacastle said. “It’s hard to get in out and out. How are they going to keep traffic from backing up? It’s not a good fit for the spot.”
The proposed changes in the Southern Area Rezoning Plan for the City of Birmingham would have prevented a car wash in the area, Mrs. Barnacastle said. But there have been long delays in getting that approved.
In the end, a gate blocking off the residential street was the best solution residents could hope for.
“We couldn’t prevent the car wash,” Mrs. Barnacastle said. “It does shut down the street.”
She also thinks the car wash will regret its location for some of the same reasons the McDonald’s was an awkward fit. It’s just too hard getting in and out of that corner lot, she said.
“I don’t think people will use it,” Mrs. Barnacastle said. “It’s too difficult. This area is just not designed for commercial traffic.”
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