The Wauwatosa Plan Commission voted Feb. 9 to recommend a conditional use permit for a laundromat planned on North Avenue in East Tosa, but the permit’s conditions would require the business to close at midnight rather than allowing it to open all night, as the owner had requested.
The commission spent about a half hour during its meeting at City Hall and on Zoom discussing the application and the compromise conditions before voting unanimously in favor of granting the permit to Flash Laundromats. It is planning to open at 7105 W. North Ave., formerly O’Gorman’s West Towne Auto.
The permit will be taken up for final approval by the Common Council on Feb. 24.
Several neighbors previously spoke against the conditional use permit during a Jan. 27 public hearing before the council and in written comments submitted to the city. Rather than opposing a laundromat outright, most of the concerns were directed specifically at Flash Laundromats’ request to open 24 hours a day to cater to customers who may not be able to do their laundry during more traditional hours.
Zoning allows for the operation of a laundromat on the property from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. without additional approval from the city, but a conditional use permit is required for a laundromat to offer extended hours.
At the Feb. 9 Plan Commission meeting, one resident, Steven Glazer, whose house on North 71st Street borders the laundromat property, spoke against allowing late-night hours. He argued the business had not met the standards of “reasonable and customary” accommodations, as required for this type of conditional use, and the potential “negative impact” on neighboring properties was disqualifying.
Art Piñon, a Wauwatosa city planner, presented the city staff’s recommendations to the Plan Commission. He cited data from the Wauwatosa Police Department about police activity at a different, existing 24-hour facility in the city operated by Flash Laundromats at 6110 Bluemound Road. Nearly 90 calls for service were received at that location in the past three years, which equates to an average of about two or three per month, with 60% occurring between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. The reasons for the calls included “disorderly subjects, welfare checks, thefts, citizen assists and domestic violence incidents.”
The city staff recommended granting the conditional use permit allowing Flash Laundromats to open from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. while requiring it to staff an on-site attendant from 10 p.m. until close and provide additional security measures. One of the laundromat’s owners, Kenneth Sidello, appeared before the commission and said the business would accept those terms.
Amanda Fuerst, a Common Council member who also serves on the Plan Commission, thanked residents for coming forward — “I really appreciate the immense community input” — and she made a motion to adopt the staff’s recommendation but with further amendments modifying the close time to midnight, granting the city the option to reconsider the permit approval after one year and stating that the permit cannot be transferred if the business is sold.
The commission voted to recommend those amended terms, and the matter now heads to the full Common Council at its meeting later this month.
- David Paulsen, a Tosa East Towne resident and editor of Tosa Forward News, has more than 25 years of experience as a professional journalist. He can be reached at editor@tosanews.com.
