Carwash Caught in Noise Dispute

SOUTHLAKE, TX--The owners of a Southlake gas station and carwash are caught in the middle of the city's efforts to rewrite the noise ordinance.

Residents living near the TETCO Mobil say the station's carwash is too loud and voiced their complaints at the last regular city council meeting, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

San Antonio-based TETCO, owner of the station at Southlake Boulevard and Peytonville Avenue, says the carwash is no louder than the traffic on the street.

City staff members were working on the ordinance when residents began complaining about the noise.

Malcolm Jackson, head of the code enforcement section, says the issue points out some of the difficulties of writing an enforceable noise ordinance.

The Southlake zoning code restricts noise from businesses to 56 decibels during the day and 49 decibels in the evening. However, it also states the if traffic or multiple sources already exceed the standard, businesses may not increase the noise level. TETCO has cited this section of the code and claims the carwash produces about as much noise as a passing truck, about 70 decibels.

Jackson says he hopes the revised code will help the city implement an easily enforceable standard.

TETCO representatives plan to meet with residents to try to work out the problem, Jackson says. Possible solutions include building a wall or planting shrubs as a noise damper.

Share this article: Email, Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Yahoo!MyWeb, Windows Live Favorites, Furl
Add this article feed to: RSS, My Yahoo, Newsgator, Bloglines

Read Comments [0]