TOLEDO, Ohio — You will see fewer storage units and car washes popping up in the Glass City after Toledo City Council voted Wednesday on a temporary moratorium, or ban, on these types of new developments until Jan. 31, 2025.
Luciano Dailey cleans and washes his car a few times a month and said he remembers a time when car washes weren't easy to find.
"I had to search around, asking friends where to find a car wash and stuff like that," Dailey said.
But now, it seems like they're everywhere.
He goes to WhiteWater Express on Secor Road and Central Avenue. Early last year, WTOL reported the car wash bought the building right next to it, which is the former Uncle John's Pancake House.
The restaurant relocated to Secor Road and Dorr Street.
"This space here probably could've been used for something more useful than a car wash," Dailey said.
There's several other car washes up and down Secor Road, which happens to be in Toledo Council Member Sam Melden's district.
"This is simply about hitting a pause button and making sure that we're intentional about with where certain businesses go," Melden said.
Toledo Council Member Theresa Morris agrees with Melden. She used an empty plot of land on Sylvania Avenue and Westway Street as an example.
The lot is part of her district and a car wash used to sit there. Morris said it caught fire in March 2022.
"It just sits there," Morris said. "This is something I don't want to see happen to these locations."
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This moratorium would also include a temporary ban on storage units. Morris said these types of developments take up a lot of prime real estate and it's hasn't added much to the workforce.
"They don't create jobs," Morris said. "What we want to see in the city of Toledo is we want to see a lot more jobs, and we want to see a lot more people coming to the city."
While Dailey said having a lot of car washes around is convenient, he's glad the city is trying to bring more types of businesses to Toledo.
"Banning them for a year, I mean, why not?" Dailey said.
Both council members said this year would be a time for the zoning commission to study how storage units and car washes are admitted into the city.
WTOL 11 reached out to a few car wash managers in Toledo, but none provided comment at this time.
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