Kalamazoo Residents Rally Against New Car Wash Near Asylum Lake

For years, a battle has been ongoing between the residents of Kalamazoo and the owners of the Drive and Shine car wash, who have been trying to rezone the land to build a car wash next to the Asylum Lake Preserve on Stadium Drive.

However, on Thursday night, on November 6, the Kalamazoo planning commission unanimously rejected the rezoning.

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You would think that would be a great thing, which it is; however, that doesn’t mean the problem is permanently over. The Kalamazoo City Commission has to make a final decision regarding the planning commission's vote, something Drive & Shine plans to continue fighting.

Regarding the trash and debris, the company said it cleaned up from a homeless encampment in the area of land they're looking to use. A representative from Drive & Shine had the following to say, according to WWMT:

Others have made use of it. These are the conditions of what was left. One of the reasons we are so committed to having this rezoned is to make sure these aren’t the things happening next to the beautiful Asylum Lake Preserve.

This fight needs to end, but first, there needs to be a change to the way things have gone. The problem is that Drive & Shine said that if this most recent rezoning request is denied, they'll continue to pursue it.

An argument that's been made regarding this issue is that every few years, the rezoning of the land around Asylum Lake needs to be fought by the community, when they feel something needs to be set in place so that once rezoning has been denied, the decision remains final.

Robert Piellusch, who was one of the attendees, gave his perfect scenario to the situation:

I'm really hoping is that they establish a 501-C-3 non-profit steward for the property and we raise the money and let the car wash guy walk away after doing his civic duty to just turn over the property.