Neighbor says new Gas N Wash gets uncomfortably close to his Joliet home

A neighbor of the future Gas N Wash on the Far West Side told the Joliet City Council on Monday that that the business is "too close for our comfort."

The council will vote Tuesday on a special use permit for the car wash and zoning variations for the signs for the business at Theodore Street and Drauden Road.

Gas N Wash is already under construction, having been approved in August when it was proposed as a Food N Fuel including a Dunkin' restaurant.

Interim City Manager Jim Hock said the gas station portion of the project is under construction now, and city staff will make sure that site will be "properly screened" from the adjacent neighborhood.

Plans include a three-foot berm with landscaping.

But neighbor Gilberto Morales lives next to it and said more should be done.

"This is going to disturb our peace," Morales told the council at its workshop session on Monday. "It is too close for our comfort."

Morales said he is not the only one worried that the business will intrude on the residential life around it. Other neighbors, too, would like to see more landscaping to separate the business from the homes, he said.

"We feel that the work being planned is not good enough for our privacy," he said.

The proposed zoning variations would allow more signage than is allowed under the neighborhood business zoning for the site. A 120-square-foot signage cap would be increased to 900 square feet. Wall signs and canopy signs also would be allowed under proposed variations.