The Birmingham City Council has nixed a church’s request to build a car wash in the city’s Huffman neighborhood.

The property in question, at 9701 Parkway East, is owned by Huffman Baptist Church. Pastor Bill Sears told councilors that the church spent $250,000 on improvements to its campus last year and needs a new revenue source to fund its ministries and community partnerships. Recognizing the value of one piece of church-owned land, the church began planning to sell it to an unnamed regional car wash chain.

“Ahh, it may not be the most ideal thing, I’ll admit that,” Sears said, but he argued that the sale of the property would help the church “continue to influence, impact and make a difference.”

But first, the property needed to be rezoned from D-2 Single Family Residential to C-2 General Commercial, which would require council approval. At Tuesday’s public hearing, a slew of Huffman residents showed up to express opposition to the car wash.

Although a group of Huffman community residents, represented by HBC member Ruthie Finch, asserted without elaboration their support for the rezoning request, most community members who showed up to Tuesday’s meeting argued that a car wash was unneeded in the area and would provide an influx of traffic and noise pollution.

Huffman Neighborhood President Theodore Deboro pointed out that the neighborhood association had voted twice against the proposed change. “The neighborhood is sympathetic to the plight of Huffman Baptist Church and its decrease in membership and income over the years … (but) we ask that the Huffman Baptist Church would plan with the neighborhood and not for the neighborhood.”

Church representative Brian Harris said the church had attempted to work with the neighborhood to find a suitable use for the property but “quite frankly, they just haven’t been receptive to development at all on this parcel … . We’re open to ideas and we have been through this process. … So far, the only real feedback is that they want it to remain the way it is and never be developed, or to be a park.”

Most councilors appeared moved by residents’ argument. “I think the neighborhood’s been pretty consistent at this point of lifting up their concerns,” said District 1 Councilor Clinton Woods. “In this case, I do not think that a car wash necessarily provides any especially beneficial addition to the neighborhood. That in conjunction with the fact that there’s a new project that’s already broken ground, slated to be a car wash, about half a mile (away) from your proposed location… I don’t see any way to support this project at this time.”

The council voted 6-1 against the rezoning; only District 8 Councilor Carol Clarke voted in favor of it. District 5 Councilor Darrell O’Quinn was absent from the meeting and District 4 Councilor J.T. Moore, while present, did not vote.