The car wash at 2075 Fairview Blvd has a new name and a new look. It opened as Wash 37062, its website now says it "has a new name," ICON Car Wash, and its brick has been painted. Readers asked us whether Fairview's rules let a business do that.

The rules point both ways, and only the city can say for sure. We've asked Fairview's Planning & Codes Department, and we'll add its answers here.

What the new code says

Fairview's Board of Commissioners adopted a new Development Code on April 2, 2026. It replaced the 2019 zoning ordinance.

The code lists "painting exterior Structures and fixtures" as ordinary maintenance, next to jobs like repaving a parking lot or replacing windows and siding. Ordinary maintenance doesn't count as development, and it doesn't need a development plan.

The same definition, though, describes upkeep done "in a manner that does not change its external appearance," other than undoing normal weathering. Painting brick that wasn't painted before does change how a building looks.

The code also says that once a plan is approved, changing its "exterior building materials" or any other standard spelled out in it is a major change, and major changes go back to the Planning Commission. The car wash's site plan was approved 8-0 on May 10, 2022. The meeting minutes don't describe its materials or colors, so they don't show whether the plan spelled those out.

Two more lines in the code touch this:

  • The standards for the car wash's district on the city's zoning map, Neighborhood Center (CD-4), allow brick and up to three building colors, not counting trim.
  • Car washes have a rule of their own: "All Structures shall have a brick veneer exterior." The code doesn't say whether that brick can be painted.

The older design rules

Before April, new commercial buildings that needed a site plan also went through design review under the city's Design Review Manual. The Planning Commission first approved it in 2007 and amended it in 2011. The city still posts it on its Planning & Codes page.

The manual says changing the color of more than 25% of a building's outside needs design review. It also says a building approved under it must be "maintained as originally approved." The city planner could sign off on small changes. Anything bigger went to the Planning Commission.

The manual was tied to the 2019 zoning ordinance, which the new code repealed. Whether the city still uses it is one of the questions we've asked.

It's come up before: Taco Bell, 2013

Colors were on the table when the Taco Bell at 2377 Fairview Blvd went through the Planning Commission in 2013, according to the commission's minutes.

  • July 2013: Taco Bell asked for exceptions to the design rules. It had already swapped a stucco-like finish for brick to meet the rule that 70% of each wall be brick. Planning and codes director Donn Lovvorn confirmed the company would not paint the area behind its front metal slats "the purple that you submitted," and Taco Bell's representative agreed. The commission allowed the painted metal slats and the cornice.