A Calgary car wash is causing sleepless nights for some families in the southwest community of Cougar Ridge.
The high-tech car wash has a conveyor belt and pulls up to 45 cars through the wash per hour. It's fast and convenient for drivers but the powerful blower system, used to dry vehicles, is too noisy for some neighbours.
"We've got two little kids and it just doesn't stop. The kids are trying to sleep at 7pm and the carwash is going until 10pm," says Drew Martin who lives nearby.
The city's noise bylaw considers 65 decibels an acceptable level. The car wash comes in just under that, but Suncor – the operator – was forced to shutdown its latenight operations when the noise exceeded 50 decibels.
Suncor says it wants to be a good neighbour and it's working with the city and residents to come up with a solution to the noise problem.
Residents think the next step should be a sound wall around the business, and they've started a petition.
"The sound wall can be a solution depending on the way the sound is emanating from the carwash, and how it floods around the potential wall, and it still might migrate across the community," says Richard Pootmans, the councillor for Ward 6.
Pootmans says Suncor has plans to build an extension over the drying area which could also help reduce the noise. An application for a development permit is expected within a month.
