When we moved to Whitefish in 2013, we noticed it needed a car wash. There were only a handful of wash bays at the Riverside in town, or you had to drive to the Blue Cow in Kalispell. So, we built the Whitefish Superwash on U.S. Highway 93 S., and for the last six years, have enjoyed getting to know our neighbors better, both at the Superwash and through supporting Bulldog Athletics. We thought that in return for paying our taxes and being good Whitefish citizens, we would at least be treated fairly by the City under its own rules … not so.
On September 2, Whitefish City Council gave a large out-of-town car wash chain, Rocky Mountain Car Wash, the green light to build Whitefish’s largest car wash yet (it’ll be Rocky Mountain’s 16th), directly across the street from the Superwash, on the same one-mile stretch of Highway 93 S. that already has three car washes on it.
And here’s the kicker, the City granted Rocky Mountain its Conditional Use Permit without even requiring the company to do the Traffic Impact Study on Whitefish streets as mandated by the City’s own Engineering Standards. Those Standards require any new business adding 200 or more vehicle trips per day to Whitefish streets to do a detailed traffic study first. Inexplicably, the City gave Rocky Mountain a pass on that requirement, based on the company’s submission of traffic data from its Laramie, Wyoming car wash, even though we gave City Council our data showing the Superwash (which is smaller than Rocky Mountain’s planned wash) serves more than 200 vehicles per day, and, the Montana Department of Transportation is already studying this stretch of Highway 93 S. because it has concerns about traffic.
We asked the City to slow down and reconsider the impact another car wash would have on Whitefish traffic, but Council didn’t, even though their own rules say they should. Rather, City Council voted unanimously to give Rocky Mountain Car Wash its Conditional Use Permit there on the spot. When we told the City this would likely put us out of business since it’s hard to compete with a big chain directly across the street (which may be Rocky Mountain’s plan), Councilor Rebecca Norton told us: “it’s not the City’s job to regulate commerce.” Funny, we kind of thought it was … so much for the City supporting locally owned and operated businesses.
Lea & Dennis Doherty, owners
Whitefish Superwash