Seven Fields residents tuned in Monday night to voice their opposition to a proposed car wash in the borough.

At a zoning hearing, residents raised objections to ModWash, a proposed car wash at the southeast corner of Route 228 and Northpointe Circle.

Attendees primarily cited the noise the site would produce as the reason for their objections. The hearing was convoked because Hutton, the real estate firm developing ModWash, asked the minimum setback requirements be reduced from 50 feet to 19 feet.

After more than three hours with no decision on the car wash made, the meetings on the issue will continue until March 16.

Dusty Elias Kirk, an attorney from Reed Smith representing the developer, said a car wash is a permitted use by right, and described the site as a trapezoid, complicated by both an eminent domain acquisition by PennDOT in the 1960s and a 10-foot right-of-way owned by FirstEnergy Corp.

“We're here, basically, because of setbacks, and if we were to comply with those setbacks as the borough has (defined in the ordinance), it would be less than an acre that is developable,” she said.

Mark Zimmerman, a civil engineer working on the project, said the setbacks are just one factor for which to account when developing the area. He said normal setbacks would “really narrow” the buildable area, and added the counterclockwise direction in which most car washes operate also limits the way ModWash can be built.

“There's a number of things on this property that keep us from maintaining setbacks as well as developing the property in a safe manner,” Zimmerman said.

While the setback was what brought ModWash to the zoning board, residents focused on a different detail: the noise.

One of the primary reasons ModWash sought a variance was to locate a vacuum distributor closer to the road than the 50-foot borough ordinance requirement. Residents seized on the distributor itself, as well as other noise-producing elements, rather than the setback variance request, as a point of contention.

Kim Grasso, a borough resident, said during the hearing her concern was that the noise generated by the proposed business may cause loss of customer enjoyment or loss of customer traffic to nearby businesses, such as the Bruster's ice cream shop across Northpointe Circle.

She also argued her belief that car washes are considered “automobile servicing” under borough ordinance, which is permitted as a conditional use in industrial zones, rather than the planned economic development district encompassing the proposed location.

Cody Mora, of Hutton, said the vacuum producer produces 74 decibels as measured 50 feet away, and the blower within the car wash produces 79 decibels 50 feet away and 75 as measured 100 feet away. Other members of the development team said this was similar to road-level noise, and Zimmerman noted the vacuum producer is roughly 250 feet from the nearest residential property to the east.

Residents argued with that logic, however. Suzanne Mills said the background environmental noise, most of which comes from Route 228 traffic, is not comparable to the on-and-off nature of a vacuum, and added there was no planned noise mitigation between the property and existing residential developments. Stephan Fatschel said decibels are additive, and thus the traffic noise would add to the car wash noise.

Brian Trible, a resident who also serves on borough council, asked if the developer could construct some type of enclosure around the vacuum distributors to minimize the impact, a suggestion to which members of the development team were agreeable.

Following a lengthy executive session, Richard DeBlasio, zoning hearing board president, said the board did not have enough information to grant or deny the variance, continuing the meeting until March 16.

“What the board requests is that some type of noise study, a comprehensive noise study, be done,” DeBlasio said, adding the board wanted “something that is more concrete than just general information.”