A new self service car wash could be on its way to Stanley, pending review by the city wastewater department.
The car wash would be situated near Stanley Truck Sales on North Broadway, supplementing a car wash on South Broadway by Express Mart as the Shell car wash remains closed.
Car wash proponents Chad and Syndi Halterman appeared before the council with supporters to share details of the planned operation on north Broadway. The Haltermans appeared with prospective builder David Kasper and soap provider David Jensen after the city had earlier directed that it needed to see details on the implications for the city’s wastewater treatment plant, as the car wash would use the city’s wastewater system.
“Before we get going I would like to ask all of you a question,” Syndi Halterman said. “A few people have come up to me in the past few weeks and let me know that the reason we are coming here today is a stall tactic, that you have no intention of letting us build a car wash. Before I continue, what I’m basically asking is did we come for no reason? Are you going to hear us out and let us probably build a car wash, or are we here for no reason?”
“I want to hear it,” Alderman Mark Fitzsimmons said. “Again, we just need knowledge because we don’t know how much water you’ll use. We don’t know what kind of chemicals they are, and obviously on the soaps and degreasers side of it the sewer department will have to take a look at it.”
Alderman Jason Meyer also had his view on things.
“The way I see it, is, we do need another carwash in town, in my opinion, but there are two hurdles that need to be overcome,” he said. “How much phosphate is going to be admitted to the wastewater treatment? I think we have to deal with that properly, and the other is, can the city supply the additional water demand? So those two I don’t have an answer for whether that will be a problem or not.”
Being assured in turn that a North Broadway car wash was a possibility, the Haltermans then passed out materials on car wash soap and other materials to the council for city information. Soap and other car wash materials would be supplied by Autowash Systems Inc. of New Prague Minnesota and including self-serve foam brush, self-serve tire and brush cleaner, self-serve presoak, high pressure detergent, and self-serve clear coat protectant, classed for OSHA hazard communication standards in categories 1, 2, and 4. Materials would arrive packaged as solids and be diluted for use in the car wash, with industry expert Dave Jensen giving the council additional details.
“Everything in our industry is biodegradable now,” he said Nov. 17. “The EPA has scrutinized us for years, because we were a heavy user of salts.”
Jensen, who said he had also sold car wash materials to Express Mart when they opened their business and had been in the car wash industry overall for 40 years.
“In the 40 years I’ve been doing this I’ve owned car washes, I’ve owned distributorships, I’ve sold equipment, I’ve been in this industry for a long time. I’ve never had an issue with a municipality saying we’re a problem for what they do with their water, unless you guys are doing something different from everyone else. Generally what I’ve found is that we’re a helper, because we’re actually break-in down the greases. They love it when we’re next to a lube shop, a grease shop, because we’re actually helping them.”
Jensen went on to say that a car wash like the one at Express Mart used between 27 to 33 gallons per car, compared with 100 gallons for a homeowner washing their vehicle.
“You can look it up and Google it,” he said. “It’s not just something I’m saying.” Jensen said the car wash as proposed for North Broadway would use two gallons of water per minute or 24 gallons per vehicle.
“I’m assuming you guys will have a state approved plan, so they’ll have a grease trap in there no matter what,” Jensen said. “They’ll generally be pumping the tanks out on a yearly or bi-yearly basis, depending on the sand and sediment. The stuff that ends up in the car wash is what you guys put on the road. The sand, the salt, all that stuff that ends up on the road, ends up in the car wash. So we’re cleaning what you put on the road, we’re taking it off. We’ve always felt its better that we’re able to control it than just send it down the storm sewer. Questions?”
Fitzsimmons had one.
“So a community our size, what’s the average daily use,” he asked.
“We’re in Stanley so it’s not going to be an excessive amount of cars,” Jensen said, with estimates from 20 to 30 cars per day. “Wintertime is going to be the worst. Our wash season is generally between November, March, and April. When it becomes nice out…our biggest competitor, is the garden hose.”