Gleam Car Wash FAQ UPDATED as of 1/14/2016

For informational purposes only, contents subject to change

GLEAM CAR WASH FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Gleam Car Wash, a locally-owned business will be opening in the spring of 2016 on West 38th
Avenue between Wolff Street and Xavier Street.
This document provides answers to questions raised by the neighboring community. Some
questions have been answered in a document created by the City of Denver Community Planning
and Development Department, Denver Public Works, and Denver Environmental Health. The
document is available at gleaminfo.weebly.com and is referenced below.
The site plan recorded with the City is available here:
http://www.denvergov.org/denvermaps/documents/SDP_MAPS/2015167794.pdf.

Answers in this document provided by the management of Gleam Car Wash are for
informational purposes only and may be subject to change based on factors including
neighbor input, City input, weather, or other circumstances.

Contents
Review Process ........................................................................................................................................... 2
Zoning ......................................................................................................................................................... 2
Parking ........................................................................................................................................................ 2
Traffic .......................................................................................................................................................... 3
Water use and pollution ............................................................................................................................. 4
Emissions .................................................................................................................................................... 5
Noise ........................................................................................................................................................... 5
Light ............................................................................................................................................................ 6
Hours of Operation ..................................................................................................................................... 6
Capacity ...................................................................................................................................................... 6
Hiring Practices ........................................................................................................................................... 7
Permit Status .............................................................................................................................................. 8
Construction ............................................................................................................................................... 8
Aesthetics ................................................................................................................................................... 9
Landscaping .............................................................................................................................................. 11
Communication ........................................................................................................................................ 12
Community Concerns................................................................................................................................ 12
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Gleam Car Wash FAQ UPDATED as of 1/14/2016

For informational purposes only, contents subject to change

Review Process
Q: What did/does the Citys review entail? Are quality-of-life issues considered?
A: See City Fact Sheet for the Citys response [available at gleaminfo.weebly.com].

Zoning
Q: What is the zoning history of this site?
A: See City Fact Sheet for the Citys response [available at gleaminfo.weebly.com].
Q: How does the MS-3 zone district transition to the adjacent single-family residential district?
A: See City Fact Sheet for the Citys response [available at gleaminfo.weebly.com].

Parking
Q: How much parking is proposed? What can be done for those concerned that its not enough?
A: See City Fact Sheet for the Citys response [available at gleaminfo.weebly.com].
Q: How many employees will Gleam have?
A: Gleam will employ 20-30 people, about half of whom will be on site at any given time on
average.
Q: Where will the employees park?
A: Gleam is happy to work with our neighbors on this issue. Our plan is to encourage employees
to use public transportation by offering bus passes. Employees who drive to work will be
instructed to park in designated areas that are not heavily used for resident parking. An
employees failure to abide by the parking rules may be grounds for termination. Neighborhood
input on how to minimize parking impact is welcome.
Gleams current plan is to instruct employees who drive to work to park on West 39th Avenue
and West 41st Avenue.

Gleam Car Wash FAQ UPDATED as of 1/14/2016

For informational purposes only, contents subject to change

Q: Where will Gleams customers park?

A: Unlike any other potential use for this site, Gleam customers will have almost no reason to
park off of Gleam property.

Traffic
Q: Why are curb cuts on side streets rather than 38th?
A: See City Fact Sheet for the Citys response [available at gleaminfo.weebly.com].
Q: What about traffic effects?
A: See City Fact Sheet for the Citys response [available at gleaminfo.weebly.com].
Q: What if the car wash queue backs up onto Wolff? There are driveways and school bus stops
on Wolff.
A: See City Fact Sheet for the Citys response [available at gleaminfo.weebly.com]. In addition,
at present, Gleam does not anticipate this condition occurring more than five or six days per year.
Gleam should be able to process about 100 cars per hour before vehicles would back up onto
Wolff. Gleam is projecting 80-90 cars per hour as the peak range. Gleam will work with the
City and neighbors to alleviate this situation should it occur.

Gleam Car Wash FAQ UPDATED as of 1/14/2016

For informational purposes only, contents subject to change

Q: How will traffic exit the car wash?

A: During normal operations, Gleam expects cars exiting the car wash onto Wolff Street will be
able to turn north or south off the car wash property and that cars exiting onto Xavier Street will
be instructed by a sign on a sandwich board to turn south toward 38th Avenue instead of north
into the neighborhood.
During busy times, Gleam plans to place signs on sandwich boards instructing cars exiting onto
Wolff Street to turn south toward 38th only and Gleam may place signs instructing cars exiting
onto Xavier to turn north to avoid undue congestion at the intersection of Xavier Street and W.
38th Avenue.
During unusually busy times, Gleam plans to have a person directing Gleam traffic at both the
Wolff and Xavier Street access points.
Q: Could the light at 38th and Wolff be adjusted to accommodate changes in traffic volume?
A: See City Fact Sheet for the Citys response [available at gleaminfo.weebly.com]. Gleam
looks forward to working with the City and neighborhood on this issue. Steve Charbonneau of
Find Solutions (www.findsolutions.com) has been engaged by the City of Denver to facilitate a
neighborhood/Gleam working group. Mr. Charbonneau reports that the City of Denver is willing
to make changes at this intersection if justified by traffic studies.
Q: What about adding a stop light at 38th and Xavier?
A: See City Fact Sheet for the Citys response [available at gleaminfo.weebly.com].
Q: Has there been a recent traffic count on 38th Avenue?
A: See City Fact Sheet for the Citys response [available at gleaminfo.weebly.com].
Q: Doesnt adding more cars to 38th Avenue conflict with Main Street goals for this corridor?
A: See City Fact Sheet for the Citys response [available at gleaminfo.weebly.com].

Water use and pollution

Q: How much water will Gleam Car Wash use?
A: Gleam plans to use around 15 gallons of fresh water per car. Gleam will reclaim 90% and
treat 100% of that. Of the remaining 10%, approximately 6% will be lost to evaporation and
about 4% will be residual water flowing directly to sanitary sewer from run off from cars and
water softener backflush.

Gleam Car Wash FAQ UPDATED as of 1/14/2016

For informational purposes only, contents subject to change

Q: Where will the reclaimed water used in the car wash be stored?
A: Gleam will store the reclaimed, treated water in underground storage tanks.
Q: Will the car wash overwhelm the sanitary sewer system?
A: No. Gleam will discharge far less water into the sanitary sewer system than other car washes
and less than many other businesses. Sanitary sewer use is analyzed by the City as part of the
permitting process.
Q: Will the car wash overwhelm the storm water system and contaminate our waters?
A: No. The only water entering the storm water system at Gleam is from rain runoff and snow
melt. When a car is washed at home, untreated water goes either into the storm water system or
into the ground.
Q: Will the carwash pollute the groundwater?
A: No. All of the areas where Gleam will use water are impervious, so groundwater
contamination will not be an issue.

Emissions
Q: What about emissions from idling cars?
A: See City Fact Sheet for the Citys response [available at gleaminfo.weebly.com].
Q: How will emissions impact the employees of the car wash?
A: There is a powerful ventilation system in the detail bay to keep Gleam employees safe and
comfortable.

Noise
Q: Will the noise from the car wash impact the neighborhoods ability to maintain a peaceful
and quiet environment?
A: See City Fact Sheet for the Citys response [available at gleaminfo.weebly.com]. In addition,
Gleams car wash tunnel and the equipment that powers it are enclosed and should not add
measurably to the noise created by the approximately 24,000 cars that travel along West 38th
Avenue each day. Vacuums are muffled so should not be intrusive to bordering homes and
businesses. The mufflers Gleam plans to use reduce noise by 25% at 20 feet and that figure
reduces exponentially at greater distances.

Gleam Car Wash FAQ UPDATED as of 1/14/2016

For informational purposes only, contents subject to change

Q: What about cars playing loud music while waiting in line for the car wash?
A: Gleam employees will be instructed to listen for unusually loud music and managers will be
instructed to request customers turn the volume down.

Light
Q: Will the car wash produce a lot of light pollution?
A: Gleam is working with a lighting designer to balance the lighting demands of the City zoning
codes, the need to illuminate signage, and the desire to limit light pollution to the greatest extent
possible.

Hours of Operation
Q: How many hours a day will the car wash be open?
A: The zoning code allows businesses like Gleam to operate from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00
p.m. Gleam management is currently planning to operate between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. but
hours of operation may vary depending on demand.
Q: Will Gleam be open on holidays?
A: Gleam will likely be closed on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day and may close or
reduce hours on other days. Rather than being closed we will offer free car washes to veterans
on Veterans Day.

Capacity
Q: What is the planned capacity of the car wash? Specifically, what is the projected minimum
and maximum number of cars to be processed and what is the maximum capacity of the wash
equipment planned at the site?
A: Gleam projects that it will need to clean a minimum of about 15-20 cars in an hour to justify
being open for business at a particular hour. Gleam projects that it will clean a maximum of
about 80-90 cars during a peak hour but does not anticipate that volume as a steady state. Gleam
projects it will clean a daily average of 35-40 cars per hour or approximately 360 cars per day on
average. These projections are based on the owners/operators of Gleams experience in the car
wash industry and their analysis of the site location. The higher-side estimate assumes that
approximately 1.5% of the 24,000 cars per day that travel on West 38th will stop at the car wash.
Typically a car wash of this type will yield .7%-1% capture rate on average.

Gleam Car Wash FAQ UPDATED as of 1/14/2016

For informational purposes only, contents subject to change

City engineer Eric Osmundsen stated to the North Denver Tribune that the Institute of
Transportation Engineers Trip Generation data indicates that the highest data rate for a car wash
was 52 washes during the peak hour. (http://www.northdenvertribune.com/2015/12/gleamingbrings-steaming-issue/).
Gleam will be a flex-service car wash, providing exterior-only cleaning through its 135-foot
tunnel and additional detailing services in the enclosed detail center. Customers will drive
through the tunnel themselves and get out of their vehicles only if they choose detail services.
Our goal is for approximately 50% of our customers to choose exterior-only, tunnel-only wash
services and approximately 50% of our customers to get additional detail services. The car wash
tunnel will be the 135-EDT built by Sonnys Direct (www.sonnysdirect.com). According to the
manufacturer, the 135-EDT can handle up to 150 cars per hour. In our experience, getting more
than 100 cars through this tunnel in an hour requires the cars to be too close together for our
comfort and gets them through the dryers too fast for them to get as dry as our customers prefer.

Hiring Practices
Q: Who will be working at Gleam Car Wash?
A: As noted above, Gleam will employ about 30 people. Gleam management anticipates that 812 of those will be full-time positions. We expect 10-15 workers for a given shift, with the
potential for a higher number if demand requires it. To find our employees we will be working
with a number of agencies, some of which include: the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation,
which helps place young workers on the autism spectrum; the Denver Rescue Mission, which

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helps place veterans and people who were formerly homeless; and Groundwork Denver, which
helps at-risk youth find jobs, finish high school, and go to college.
Q: Will Gleam Car Wash hire people who have been convicted of a felony?
A: In general, no. However, a previous felony conviction is not an absolute bar to employment
but such a hire would require consent and approval of both managers of Gleam and could not be
a unilateral decision of one manager.

Permit Status
Q: What approvals and permits have already been issued?
A: The site development plan was recorded on December 7, 2015. The recorded site plan is
available at: http://www.denvergov.org/denvermaps/documents/SDP_MAPS/2015167794.pdf.
A demolition permit was issued in October. The Sewer Use and Development Permit Foundation Only (SUDP-Foundation) was issued in December and the full SUDP issued in
January.
Q: What permits remain to be issued?
A: Gleam expects a foundation-only building permit to be issued in January. A building permit
is expected late in February. Permit updates will be posted at gleaminfo.weebly.com.

Construction
Q: What is the construction schedule for the site?
A: Sewer, water, gas, and electric service to the site were cut over the summer and early fall of
2015. As such, work on the site since then should have no impact on the utility service of
neighbors.
Demolition of the Hilarios Restaurant building occurred late in October, 2015. Various
environmental studies of the site concluded that the site was environmentally clean but that the
soil contained debris that could lead to undesirable settling. Much of the work at the site since
the building was demolished (the big holes and piles of dirt) has been to sift out that debris to
ensure a solid footing for the car wash. Some of the more recent work has been related to the
SUDP-Foundation work.
Workers should begin pouring the foundation shortly after the foundation permit has issued,
likely in January.
Vertical construction should begin in February or March 2016. The timing of work depends on
the issuance of all necessary permits. Some of the components of the car wash will arrive on
very long trucks and will require street closures on certain hours on specified days.

Gleam Car Wash FAQ UPDATED as of 1/14/2016

For informational purposes only, contents subject to change

Q: Will Gleam provide notification of street closures and other construction-related issues that
may impact neighbors?
A: Gleam will provide notice of construction-related issues that will impact neighbors as far
ahead of the event as possible. Gleam will update the website gleaminfo.weebly.com with
information about upcoming construction issues. Gleam will also email this information to
BRUN, Steve Charbonneau, Councilman Espinoza, and other neighbors as requested. Gleam
will also attempt to distribute notices door-to-door along Wolff and Xavier Streets between W.
38th Avenue and W. 39th Avenue.
Q: What should I do if theres an issue during construction?
A: For fastest response, please contact Gleam owner/operator Rob Madrid at (720) 204-8658 and
info@gleamcarwash.com.

Aesthetics
Q: Arent car washes ugly?
A: This is, of course, subjective. Please see the following renderings for a sense of Gleams
appearance. The renderings are concept drawings and do not reflect things like landscaping,
adjacent buildings, final signage, and lighting. In addition, Gleam hopes to work with a local
metal fabricator to make the fencing as attractive as possible.

Concept aerial view from the southwest corner. Cars enter the site from the Wolff Street side, queue on the north side of the
property, enter an enclosed queuing area on the Xavier Street side (where they will order services). The actual car wash tunnel is
represented by the sloped roof with solar panels (a future addition). Note that the green area on the upper left side of the image is
a 4-unit apartment building, not empty space and the grey barrier on the north side of the site is 6-foot wood fencing.

Gleam Car Wash FAQ UPDATED as of 1/14/2016

For informational purposes only, contents subject to change

Concept view of the enclosed queuing area at the southwest corner of the site where customers will order services before entering
the car wash tunnel.

Concept view from the southwest street level. Note that this rendering omits the bus stop in front of the car wash.

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Gleam Car Wash FAQ UPDATED as of 1/14/2016

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Concept aerial view from the southeast street level. After cars leave the car wash tunnel, they proceed into an enclosed exit lane
with solid walls along the corner of 38th Avenue and Wolff Street. We expect that this enclosure will substantially limit noise
from the blowers in the wash tunnel. The green box on the corner is a transformer that Xcel requires be outside Gleams walls.

Concept view of the area where customers will wait for their vehicles to be detailed.

Landscaping
Q: The landscaping in the images in the Aesthetics section looks pretty bleak. Is that how the
car wash landscaping is really going to look?

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Gleam Car Wash FAQ UPDATED as of 1/14/2016

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A: No. The landscape plan is available at gleaminfo.weebly.com. The concept views shared by
Gleam do not show the landscaping planned for the site. Gleam is planning to plant trees along
W. 38th Avenue and along Wolff and Xavier Streets.

Communication
Q: A concept plan review for a car wash was submitted to the City in late 2014 and a site plan
was submitted for review in June 2015. Why did Gleams owners wait until November 2015 to
formally inform the neighborhood that a car wash would be built on the site?
A: When we acquired the property, we were considering at least four different possible uses for
the site including various combinations of retail establishments, restaurants, multi-family
residential, office, medical services and, of course, a car wash. We also considered reselling the
land once the Hilarios building was demolished. The feasibility of many of the potential, noncar wash uses was apparent and did not require further input and analysis from the City. As
recently as October 2015, we were seriously considering reselling the property or entering into
an agreement with an urgent care facility instead of a car wash. It would have been very difficult
to explain why we had announced one use and then proceeded with a different use.
Q: Why has it been so difficult to get information about the car wash and how can we keep
getting more information?
A: We have met or spoken by phone with almost everyone who has contacted us to request
information, have attended community meetings (although we have not had an opportunity yet to
give a full presentation), and are willing participants in the neighborhood dialog facilitated by
Steve Charbonneau at the request of Councilman Espinoza and City Council. It is our hope that
this document, future updates to this document, and information at gleaminfo.weebly.com will
help facilitate communication about the project.
Q: Would somebody from Gleam present and address questions at a BRUN meeting or another
similar gathering? How about other venues?
A: Yes. Gleam will work with Steve Charbonneau and BRUN to determine the best official
venues to meet with neighbors. But if a presentation or meeting is requested by any individual
neighbor or group of neighbors, we would be happy to oblige.

Community Concerns
Q: Where can I send questions that arent in this FAQ?
A: Please email info@gleamcarwash.com and copy Steve Charbonneau
(steve@findsolutions.org) with questions that are not addressed here or in the Citys Fact
Sheet. Please note that it may take us some time to answer them, especially if additional

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Gleam Car Wash FAQ UPDATED as of 1/14/2016

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research is needed. The owners live in the neighborhood and occasionally check social media
sites like Nextdoor.com for additional questions. However, direct email is preferred.

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