Plan to fill canal for future car wash has Cape Coral neighbors upset

A car wash is going where a canal currently sits. There are plans to fill 80 feet of a canal in Cape Coral to make room for this car wash.

Neighbors say that the canal is home to wildlife, and having it filled in isn’t something they can just sit by and watch.

A sign now sits near the intersection of Santa Barbara Boulevard and Kamal Parkway in Cape Coral, promising that Tommy’s Express Car Wash is “coming soon.”

But some of these neighbors, like Cary Richardson, would rather “Tommy” stay away. “I saw the sign about a month ago about a car wash. I was like, oh really do you have 30 car washes within a mile and one more and it’s on top of a residential area,” Richardson said.

Richardson just moved into his home last November. He says he likes peace and quiet. He also says he enjoys seeing the manatees swim into the canal in his backyard.

But, if Tommy’s Express Car Wash goes there, all of that will change. The Army Corps of Engineers has given the developer the green light to fill 80 feet of the canal.

“It’s going to tear up my manatees. They’re just gonna leave,” said Richardson.

Brenda Hoffman says she’s lived here for five years and says she does all she can to protect the wildlife in her backyard. “I was really heartbroken when I heard that they’re going to fill it in. I really was, I really was,” said Hoffman.

Larry Territo lives right next to Hoffman. Territo says that changing the feel and face of his neighborhood for some car wash is difficult for him to accept.

“Down the next block, they’re building houses, you know duplexes they have 3 of them going in the next block they could have done that here there’s more need for residential than a car wash,” said Territo.

WINK News reached out to Tommy’s Car Wash about its plan to fill the canal. We also reached out to the Army Corps of Engineers to ask why they granted the permit. Neither of them got back to us.