Henry County is trying to slow down the growth of standalone car wash businesses in the south metro community.
The Henry Commission, in a 3-2 vote last week, passed an ordinance that mandates new car wash facilities cannot be constructed within a one-mile radius of one another. County leaders said the goal is to help metro Atlanta’s second-fastest growing community from becoming overwhelmed with the businesses.
The ordinance does not impact interest in building car wash locations in Henry’s five cities.
The decision comes as a six-month moratorium on the development of car washes ended on April 18. The Henry office of planning and zoning directed the change because “we have seen an increased interest in automobile wash development and it was beginning to inundate our systems,” said Kamau As-Salaam, interim assistant director of the office.
He said there are 23 car wash locations in Henry’s cities, seven in the county and six more county locations under development. He said car wash lots are difficult to redevelop if the operations close, though he did not explain why.
“Since 2022 we have about seven new car washes coming into the county alone,” he said. “We saw this trend coming and decided to pump our brakes and come up with something so that we are not inundated with these automobile washes.”
