The applicant whose bid to locate a Prestige Car Wash on Rte. 9 west was denied in June by the Natick Planning Board, has filed a complaint in Massachusetts Land Court seeking to annul the elected body’s decision.
Based on the court docket, “Both parties stated they are open to mediation.” Also, the Planning Board on its Sept. 23 meeting agenda has an executive session (not open to public) agenda item during which it is slated to “discuss strategy with respect to litigation…” on this matter.
Natick Report in April 2025 began covering Prestige’s efforts to possibly open in town, and followed this story through until the Planning Board decision in June (the board voted to deny on June 3 and filed its 28-page decision with the town clerk on June 16).
Hearings—which included plenty of complaints from neighbors about possible noise, traffic, and more—got testy at times between the board and project proponent’s team. In the end, board member Andy Meyer called it “the most thorough denial I’ve ever heard,” after Board Chair Doug Landry expanded on the motion to deny for 10 full minutes.
Boston Capital Investment Group and 625 Worcester St. filed their suit recently vs. the Natick Planning Board and its individual members, and according to the complaint, they took particular exception to Landry’s actions during the meetings.
The developer had sought a special permit to build the car wash on property previously occupied by a furniture store.
Prestige rendering submitted to Planning Board
The applicant argued in hearings and in the complaint that its plans would actually improve the property in numerous ways, from overall noise reduction to removal of impervious surface.
As it contended during hearings, the applicant in the complaint emphasized that this Rte. 9 property is “one of small handful of lots in Natick on which a car wash could be approved” based on zoning rules.
ScrubaDub, which has its headquarters in Natick and is celebrating its 60th year in business, is located about a mile east on the other side of Rte. 9.
In addition to seeking annulment of the Planning Board decision, the complaint requests a declaration that “the Board acted with bad faith or gross negligence and award the Plaintiff costs and attorney’s fees” and “Grant Plaintiff such other relief that the Court deems just and equitable.”
We reached out late Tuesday afternoon to the plaintiff’s lead attorney as well as the town’s planning director for further comment on the suit (this was shortly before we gained to the full complaint). We may update this post based on responses received after initial publishing.
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- Prestige Car Wash readies for Rte. 9 (April 16, 2025)
- Prestige aims to bring car wash to town (Feb. 25, 2026)
- Natick residents pour cold water on Rte. 9 car wash plan (March 6, 2026)
- Proposed car wash on Planning Board agenda (March 18, 2026)
- Hearing for proposed Rte. 9 car wash continued to June (May 8, 2026)
- After numerous hearings, Natick Planning Board thoroughly denies Rte. 9 car wash plan
