A moratorium on automated car washes in Birmingham will continue. After a public hearing in which three residents spoke in favor of continued restriction, the City Council voted to extend for a second time the moratorium initially adopted March 5.

Council members have said the moratorium is needed because of a surge in applications to build automated car washes, including in areas close to homes and with significant pedestrian traffic.

Liz Read, who lives in the Red Mountain area near the corner of Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard and 20^th Avenue South, said a car wash is being built next to her house.

“I hope for the continuation of this moratorium,” she said. “Ideally, I wish the people next door would just give up and go away. I don’t think that’s happening. But obviously there’s just too many of them popping up.”

John Barnacastle, who also lives on 20^th Avenue South, said he appreciates the council trying to fight the car wash in that area, but slow movement related to rezoning plans for the southern part of the city made that kind of business possible there.

“It’s too late for us on 20^th Avenue South,” he said. “Had the rezoning plan been approved back when, it wouldn’t be allowed in that area. I hope that you look at these things very closely, try to get the rezoning plans passed. It affects all neighborhoods, not just ours.”

Barnacastle’s wife, Susan Barnacastle, said many buildings around the city were not planned well or a good fit for their locations and are now vacant. “We are still suffering with 10 years of abandoned property neglected in a very established neighborhood in a high-traffic area,” she said. “So hopefully, with a moratorium, you will look at better planning for the city.”

Councilor Valerie Abbott asked about the end game for the moratorium, and Council President Darrell O’Quinn responded that it’s a temporary measure.

“The idea is that it would culminate in changes, I assume, to zoning in terms of where these automated car washes would be allowed,” he said.

The resolution passed extends the moratorium by 120 days, with the option of extending it an additional 90 days, according to city officials.

In August, Birmingham Department of Transportation Director James Fowler told the council the aim of car wash operations is to generate auto traffic, which can have negative effects on public safety, property and the overall transportation system.

O’Quinn said last month that the city has seen a trend in applications for car wash businesses in corridors that the city is actively trying to make safer for pedestrians and others using other modes of transportation besides cars.

Under current zoning laws, car washes would be allowed to open in these areas, Council President Pro Tem Wardine Alexander said in August.

“I don’t think it’s something people really anticipated being a problem when these laws were put in place,” she said. “But what we are trying to do now is fix that and ensure these businesses only operate in areas that do not pose a problem to residents or pedestrians.”