Brentwood Agrees to Ban Car Washes, Prohibit Short-Term Rentals

On Tuesday, the Brentwood City Council agreed to ban car washes and prohibit short-term rentals with in the City of Brentwood.

The council agreed Tuesday that for now, gas stations were staying “the same” pending further discussion on a cap (most likely 19), car washes are being banned going forward while alternative fuel stations are being added into mix on in terms outlined. Short-term rentals are now being “better defined” and prohibited going forward.

The city had been working on updating its zoning ordinance in January 2023 – including a phased approach. Over the past two-years, the city had worked through the items which included:

• Alcohol sales
• Automobile service stations
• Car washes
• Self-storage units
• Short-term rentals
• Drive-thru uses

On Tuesday, staff provided updates to service stations, car washes and short-term rentals.

Automobile Service Stations & Car washes:

There are currently 18 automobile service stations and 14 car washes (2 full service, 9 express, and 3 flex-service) operating in the city. The LUD committee recommended that future fossil-fuel service stations and carwashes be prohibited throughout the city—the planning commission also reviewed the items last month.

Short-Term Rental

A short-term rental is a residential property that is rented for a brief duration typically 30-days or less. It consists of home-shared, where a room in a dwelling is rented, usually with the owner present, or vacation rentals, where the entire unit is rented out to guests with the owner absent—Airbnb or Vrbo.

Council Comments:

Vice Mayor Susannah Meyer agreed with the recommendations, however, she had concerns over short-term rentals still having the issue with enforcement noting over the weekend she researched the sites and found several rentals available.

“What can we do to actually do the enforcement? I think it’s very challenging and complicated. Our language is great, but if we are not able to enforce it, where do we go from here?” asked Meyer.

Staff explained they go on each week to proactively address it and its difficult—they also go off complaint by neighbors.

Councilmember Pa’Tanisha Pierson, who is on LUD, said she still believed they needed the “absolute ban on the car washes” but had concerns over a ban on gas stations.

“My concern is when we do absolute bans I kind of get a visceral reaction at first because my concern, I know we are driving towards a future of alternative fuel resources service stations, we are banking on businesses staying in business and once they are gone the entity is gone,” explained Pierson.

Instead, she preferred a cap on the number of gas stations–later alluding to relying on Chevron or Arco staying open in the future.

“I do not believe we need any more car washes so we should stop that, but I do think we need to add the defining alternative fuel stations, but I am not 100% still sold on an absolute ban on gas,” explained Pierson, possibly stop placing gas stations in District 2 because there were none on Sand Creek Road with slight saturation on Balfour and over saturation on Brentwood Blvd and Lone Tree Way.

Councilmember Tony Oerlemans agreed on that feeling on a ban asking staff to explain to the public what a ban on all gas stations would mean.

Alexis Morris, Director of Community Development, shared a ban would mean gas stations would become “legal non-conforming” meaning they were established legally and the code changed since being in operation.

Based on the new code, a gas station could not be expanded, destroyed, replaced—they would have a lot of limitations such as only repairing it. If abandoned for a period of time, they could not be reestablished.

“Once its banned, your business can no longer be expanded or transferred after a period of time,” said Morris.

Pierson added had a ban already be in place, the City of Brentwood would not be getting Costco (including 40 gas pumps).

Oerlemans believe a cap on gas stations was the better option while adding they should get rid of short-term rentals.

“It’s funny I am saying ban this but not that. But with the experience we have had with the short-term rentals I don’t think there is any question that I would have a really hard time continuing on. I do believe we need to firm up that definition of alternative fuel stations and the car washes, we are done. There are dozens,” explained Oerlemans.

Councilmember Jovita Mendoza called for a ban on all three items.

“I am fine with banning all three. I don’t think we need more gas stations in town,” said Mendoza. “I don’t see the need for anymore, we are going to have 40 more pumps. I’ve never had a resident tell me they want another gas station. They get really upset about the gas stations.”

She called gas stations unhealthy and no on wants them around their homes but if they did move forward with a cap, they should have to go through a Conditional Use Permit (CUP).

“You don’t want your kids around a gas station, you don’t want them around those fumes at all,” said Mendoza noting they where phasing out of gas cars because they were not healthy.  “Ya, ban gas stations, ban car washes, ban short-term rentals”.

Pierson agreed with much of what Mendoza stated and admitted driving a Telsa, even though she didn’t like Elon Musk, by 2035 its going to stop new sale of gas vehicles, but people will still need gas for their vehicles—noting she has a 1964 Mustang.

Pierson also had concerns at some point they will start to lose gas stations and what could the city put in their place, but not to increase the number of gas stations while agreeing the CUP is a good idea.

After some additional discussion, the council discussed the number of gas stations and with Costco, it would be 19 stations. If one station closes, another could come through a CUP process.

Morris explained if 3 stations closed, it would allow for 3 to be built to replace them – whether the same location or new location, it would go through a CUP process.

Mayor Joel Bryant stated “he agreed” but did not elaborate further.

Morris explained to the council if they moved with a cap, staff would have to bring back the item at some point in 2025. A moratorium was suggested by Mendoza, but since there were not applications submitted, it was not pushed forward.

At that point, Pierson made a motion to ban car washes and add a definition for alternative fuel stations, allow alternative fuel stations to locate in all zoning discussions where gas stations are allowed. It was seconded. It passed in a 5-0 vote.

The council then voted 5-0 to better define and prohibit short-term rentals.

Documents

• Staff Report
• Draft Ordinance
• Draft Ordinance – short term rentals
• LUD reports

Previous Stories

• Oct 15 – Brentwood Planning Commission to Talk Gas Station and Carwash Ban, Short-Term Rentals
• Sept. 23 – Brentwood to Talk Alcohol Sales, Storage Units, and Drive-Throughs
• May 6 – Brentwood Goes to War Against Tobacco With New Regulations