The city's Board of Adjustment voted unanimously Wednesday to declare that a South Dallas car wash has an “adverse effect” on nearby properties — a vote that could essentially force the business to shut down.

Jim’s Car Wash, a 24-hour self-service operation on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, has long been blamed for crime in the area. The owner, however, maintains he's the victim of a years-long "witch hunt" by City Hall.

The two sides at Wednesday's hearing presented starkly different views of the reality at the car wash.

City Council member Kevin Felder was the first witness the attorney representing the city called to testify before the board. Last year, Felder, who represents the district where the car wash is located, called Jim's the "wild, wild west on MLK" at a committee meeting.

He said Wednesday that people who live nearby are tired of the “miscreant behavior at the car wash.”

“The surrounding community has made it clear to me that they want this car wash gone,” Felder said. The council member, who is running for a second term, hugged and congratulated opponents of the car wash after the vote.

Warren Norred — the attorney for Dale Davenport, who owns the car wash at 2702 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. — said after the hearing that the board "clearly made its decision based on something other than the relevant evidence."

Davenport said he will fight the decision. Norred said they plan to file a lawsuit.

Dale Davenport, left, owner of Jim's Car Wash, testifies as his attorney, Warren Norred, stands by during a meeting of the city's Board of Adjustment on Wednesday. (Ryan Michalesko / Staff Photographer)

If the board’s decision holds up, Davenport will still keep the property. But he won’t be allowed to operate a car wash on the site anymore.

The City Council voted in October to have the Board of Adjustment decide the fate of the car wash, which city officials have long targeted.

In 2004, the city sued Jim's, arguing in the lawsuit that the car wash was a public nuisance and that owners hadn’t done enough to discourage crime. Afterward, state legislators made it more difficult for cities to blame owners for crime around their properties.

The city rezoned the area in 2012 and eliminated car washes as a legal use. Jim's Car Wash became considered a "non-conforming use" of the property.

Davenport, who bought the car wash with his father in the 1990s, argued during the hearing that he keeps his business clean and safe. He said the Board of Adjustment proceedings were a “political witch hunt.”

Board chairman Scott Hounsel said the board was “in no position to process” Davenport’s claim that the city was out to get him.

1 / 2Chairman Scott Hounsel listens to testimony during a meeting of the Board of Adjustment on Wednesday.(Ryan Michalesko / Staff Photographer) 2 / 2Edwin P. Voss, Jr, an attorney representing the City of Dallas, speak during a meeting of the Board of Adjustment on Wednesday, March 20, 2019 in Dallas. (Ryan Michalesko/The Dallas Morning News)(Ryan Michalesko / Staff Photographer)

Norred and an attorney representing the city, Edwin P. Voss, Jr., both called witnesses to testify about whether the car wash had an adverse effect on the surrounding neighborhood.

Kedric McKnight — a former federal law enforcement agent who now works at St. Philip’s School about a mile away from the car wash — said he personally witnessed people soliciting sex and buying drugs while he was undercover at the property. He implored the board to shut down the car wash.

“The children in the area, the residents in the area, deserve the opportunity to live in a clean, sanitary, enriched, law abiding community,” he said.

But Sky Miller, a Dallas real estate broker, said the city has “far worse issues” right around the corner from the car wash.

“I believe [in] letting a bustling business that has been around for decades provide those services to its community,” he said.

Patti Priesing told the board that Davenport, who she said she’s known for years, wasn’t responsible for the crime in the area. She said the issues present at the car wash are the same issues that affect every other part of the city.

“Everywhere you go, you can find people loitering, laying down, sleeping. So the pictures of them doing this at the car wash — [Davenport] calls [police] all the time about this,” Priesing said.

The Board of Adjustment will decide on a deadline for Davenport to bring his property into zoning compliance — meaning either to shut down the car wash or operate a conforming business — at a later hearing. Davenport could apply for a specific-use permit, but said Wednesday he doesn't have interest in doing so.

Kris Sweckard, the city’s sustainable development and construction director, said the date for the second hearing is still to be determined, but he expected it in two or three months.