Fort Worth Zoning commissioners decided against recommending the application for a conditional use permit for a carwash to be located on a lot located at the southwest corner of 8th Avenue and Cantey Street.
A motion to recommend approval to the Fort Worth City Council died on a 5-5 vote at a Sept. 9 meeting, after opposition from some residents in the area who said the carwash would generate too much noise.
The applicant, FW Triple Net #2 8th Ave, LLC/QuikTrip was represented by Ben Williams, a real estate project manager for QuikTrip, and Jonathan Schindler of Westwood Professional Services.
Williams explained that after getting community feedback, they made some minor changes to the site plan and conducted a sound study. To address community concerns, QuikTrip added more trees to the western edge and northwest corner of the property line, closest to the residential area.
Williams offered to add even more trees — “if that is what is needed here,” but QuikTrip would need city permission to add trees in several easements — and noted the site plan now includes a masonry wall.
“Adding that masonry wall helped direct the noise a little bit further away from the residential and projects it more into the commercial sites kind of across the street,” Williams said.
Williams noted that QT is environmentally conscious and that the facility will reclaim 80% of the water that is used by it. Comparatively, that is 14 to 22 gallons of water per vehicle compared to the average homeowner who may use 116 gallons to wash their vehicle, he offered.
With respect to concerns about noise, Williams emphasized that the car wash only operates from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and that the dryers only run when a car is being washed, so the noise would not be constant.
He then discussed the equipment.
“They’re all inside the building, further reducing noise pollution. And then for this location, one other change that we made was when we open that tunnel door, the exit door, we’re going to limit it to only be raised at 10 feet.”
Williams explained that by shielding the blowers, the noise is reduced by an additional 3 to 5 decibels.
A sound study considered worst case scenarios, he said. None of the readings exceeded the maximum levels allowed for residential or commercial, he said, citing the study.
A commissioner asked about the 102 letters of support that QuikTrip quoted. Williams noted not all the letters were from Fort Worth residents, but felt it important to include them as it shows support. He estimated 75% of the letters were from residents of the city.
Anita Horky and Dustin Massey were two community members who spoke in opposition to the project.
Horky, representing the Paschal Neighborhood Association, said, “We are not opposing redevelopment of this property, the convenience store, or gasoline sales. Our concern is specifically whether a car wash located here is compatible with the nearby resident properties. We think it is not.”
Horky also expressed concerns about traffic. After pointing out QT’s materials state they can process 100 vehicles per hour, she said, “We think the commission should also be satisfied that the proposed car wash site can safely contain that level of activity without creating additional circulation or stacking problems.”
Massey, a resident of The Addison at University Heights, explained he was there on behalf of the president of their HOA. Massey said the association provided 23 letters of opposition to QT, but had received updated plans from the company only the day earlier.
Commission recommends against industrial case
Despite addressing the concerns of the Chapel Creek Neighborhood Association and receiving support from the association president, Fort Worth Zoning commissioners unanimously recommended denial of a rezoning request that would have allowed a developer to build light industrial uses.
Commissioners voted 10-0 to recommend denial of the zoning case at 1401 Alemeda St. to the Fort Worth City Council, after a first motion to recommend approval died without a second.
City staff members had recommended denial of the case, which would have rezoned the property from A-5 single-family and F commercial, stating it was an inappropriate land use adjacent to the Chapel Creek neighborhood and incompatible with the city’s comprehensive plan.
Commissioner Charles Edmonds moved to recommend approval of the rezoning, citing the property owner’s efforts to meet with the neighborhood and address residents’ concerns about traffic and the need for landscaping to block sight lines. The president of the neighborhood association spoke in favor of the rezoning, and nobody appeared in opposition.
“I think the applicants have made a good-faith effort,” Edmonds said in making his motion. There was no second, and the motion died. Commissioner Jacob Wurman then moved to recommend denial, which passed 10-0.
Commissioners had raised questions about traffic access and landscaping. The owner’s site plan, which is part of the rezoning, retained a tree line.
Ray Oujesky, a lawyer with the Kelly Hart firm in Fort Worth, representing the property owner, Tako LLC, noted the zoning commission had rezoned the site to allow auto auction in an earlier case.
Oujesky warned that the site could be vulnerable to that type of use, which residents don’t want, without the rezoning to Tako’s requested planned development. The rezoning would allow light industrial uses except for massage and tattoo parlors, and would require the site plan.
The site would be attractive to users like electricians, roofers, subcontractors and local suppliers, Oujesky told commissioners. The development would see box trucks over semis due to the reduced size of parking, he said.
Residents’ primary concern was about traffic access, he acknowledged.
Gary Hogan, Chapel Creek association president, told commissioners that Tako’s representatives had been very diligent in working with residents.
“The biggest concern for the community was the traffic impact to Westpoint Boulevard, which is very, very congested, especially during school season when traffic to pick up their kids and so forth goes through that route.”
But “from what I hear from the community now is that they’d much rather see this development than the other potentials that could happen to that land in the future.” Hogan said.
Brandon Middleton, a civil engineer with the Kimley-Horn consulting firm, which is working with Tako, told commissioners the current commercial zoning allows for buildings up to 45 feet and the owner is using the site’s topography to restrict building heights to much less than 45 feet.
Middleton further noted that the plan was to save all the trees along Alemeda Street to break up the sight lines, and lastly, the primary driveway for the development will be along the Loop 820 frontage road, not on Westpoint Boulevard.
Fort Worth Zoning Commission
Documenter: Patrick Banis
Date: Sept. 9, 2026
Learn more about this meeting by clicking here. For the agenda, click here.
Patrick Banis is a member of the Fort Worth Report Documenters crew. If you believe anything in this account is inaccurate, please email us at news@fortworthreport.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.
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