Healdsburg residents who have longed for the return of the car wash at 1191 Healdsburg Ave., between Flyers Energy and Big O Tires, have reason to rejoice. As has often been rumored, Splash Express is coming to town, and representatives appeared before the Planning Commission on Sept. 10 to present their design review application for the new business, projected to open in as little as a year.
The applicant, Lawrence Amaturo, submitted his plans in January for a new, upgraded and updated car wash, the latest in what was once a network of Splash Express locations. He purchased the Healdsburg location in 2022, following its closure earlier that year, and since that time local car owners have faced limited opportunities for keeping their machines clean.
The only other car wash in town currently is at the Chevron Station on the corner of Healdsburg and Sunnyvale; the single-car facility was just upgraded with a new single-car “PDQ Laser Wash 360 Plus,” which offers a rainbow-colored cleaning experience. However, many drivers are heading to larger car washes in Windsor or Santa Rosa, or washing their car in a home driveway, since the former seven-stall self-serve operation shut down over two years ago.
Home car washing is not recommended by the city’s Utility Conservation Analyst, Terra Sampson. For one thing, water conservation regulations have prohibited home car washing, “except when utilizing a bucket and hose equipped with an automatic shutoff nozzle.” (The conservation regulations have been lifted with the end of the drought.)
Additionally, water running down a driveway, into a gutter and down the street into storm drains “can lead to pollution (e.g., soaps, cleaning agents, motor oil, etc.) entering creeks and rivers,” Sampson said.
Conservation
On the other hand, “Commercial car washes use less water and are required by code to recycle the water used,” Sampson told the Tribune. “California Water Code states that car washes permitted and constructed after 2014 must use a water recycling system that recycles and reuses at least 60% of the wash and rinse water, or use provided recycled water for at least 60% of the wash and rinse water.”
Those are in fact less stringent requirements than the technologies that will be installed at the new Healdsburg Splash Express, according to Ramos & Associates, the project management and design firm building the new car wash. “The proposed car wash equipment utilizes the latest industry technology, including reduced water usage and reclamation,” Ramos told City Planner Ellen McDonald in his application.
Ramos added, “The project will utilize a 75% reclaim system for wash water recycling and will be solar-ready per the current CBC. The wastewater from the reverse osmosis filtration system will irrigate all site landscaping needs. Using wastewater from the filtration system eliminates the need for city water for landscape irrigation.”
Ramos also designs the Chevron Laser Wash operations. “The Splash wash is far superior to a Chevron roll-over Laser Wash,” he said. “We will have a car through the tunnel in about 90 seconds as opposed to four minutes. I design Chevron car washes and gas stations, too, and have for over 30 years. There really is no comparison.”
The old, seven-stall self-service car wash will be completely demolished, including concrete, paving and landscaping. In its place on the 1.32-acre lot will stand a new, 4,366-square-foot car wash, with two queuing lanes leading to a pay station. Vehicles will then merge into a single lane to enter the 140-foot-long “tunnel” that can hold two cars for service at once. A number of self-serve vacuum stations are found after the washing tunnel, for free use by customers whose cars or trucks have just been showered and dried.
Though it’s possible the Planning Commission or members of the public may apply additional conditions to the design application, neither Scott Duiven, the city’s planning director, nor senior planner Ellen McDowell anticipate an outright refusal. “At this time, we are not aware of any opposition or controversy related to the project,” McDowell said.
Applicant
Applicant Amaturo built the county’s four other Splash Express locations—three in Santa Rosa and a full-service location in Cotati—but he sold those locations to LUV Car Wash, and they will change their names by the end of the year. (LUV is a nationwide car wash and shampoo company with 18 locations in California alone.)
That will leave the Healdsburg Splash Express as the signature location of Amaturo’s diminished Splash network, though he is planning another in Ukiah as well.
Amaturo is also an owner of the Jim Bone Auto Group of car lots in Santa Rosa, and of a collection of broadcast stations called Amaturo Sonoma Media Group (not to be confused with the Sonoma Media Group that owns the Press Democrat and other papers). Primary outlets include radio stations KZST, KSRO, the River 97.7, Froggy 92.9 and five others.
When asked about the through-line in his diverse businesses, he said, “The true common aspect among the three is the human touch that is required within each industry to be accepted by and successful for our client base … we only succeed by satisfying our clients over and over again. Once we win their trust, we do all we can to maintain that trust.”
Amaturo’s children attended school in Healdsburg, and his wife, Dr. Susan Amaturo, has practiced as a dermatologist for decades here and in other cities. “Healdsburg is the jewel of Sonoma County,” he said, “perhaps all of the North Bay.”
The Planning Commission unanimously approved the project, with conditions, at their Sept. 10 meeting. See this article for more details of that meeting.
Good news. They have 3 in SR and they are excellent and well maintained.