Menifee City Council denies appeal of car wash project

By Doug Spoon

The Menifee City Council last week upheld a ruling by the Planning Commission and denied an appeal of a project that would place a car wash next to a day care center in a local commercial center.

The development was approved Feb. 28 by the Planning Commission. It calls for the placement of the adjacent businesses on a vacant portion of the Shoppes at the Lakes center, in the southeast corner adjacent to Laguna Vista Drive and south of Newport Road.

A local group known as Menifee Neighbors Care filed an appeal of the project, citing concerns about traffic, noise and air quality. In addition, a spokesman for the group expressed concern that the day care center would have no back exit in case of emergency.

“Evidence shows that this project does not comply with CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act),” said Jesse Marquez, policy director for the alliance. “You can’t make a judgment if you don’t have sufficient data.”

Marquez challenged City staff’s findings in an environmental report and said that the child care center is a “designated sensitive receptor” that is under protected status. He said the traffic study used as a reference by City staff is 10 years old.

Council member Bob Karwin responded by challenging Marquez’s claim that the car wash would serve “100 cars an hour”, stating that there is no data to support such a claim.

“Have you even met with the business (day care center) you are trying to protect?” Karwin asked Marquez, who said no. “Are you saying the child care center is forsaking safety for the sake of profits?”

Council member Lesa Sobek, whose district includes that center, said in her mind, a day care center is needed more than a car wash.

“I have mentioned before that we’re lacking for child care,” Sobek said. “This location looks to be safe for a Kinder Care. I discourage the car wash. There are other things we need. We don’t have a sports store. It could be a good place for a bank, which we need on the east side.”

At one point, the developer mentioned dropping the child care center from the plans. That became a moot point, however, when the Council voted 4-1 to deny the appeal and approve the plans for both the car wash and day care center.