An elementary school with outdoor recess would run considerable risk if a car wash were very close to the playground area. Kids are curious, and the young ones often don't have an adequate sense of the risk. It's only soap and water, right?

Kids around here who live within a mile of school are required to walk, unless a case can be made for dangerous conditions, such as a heavily travelled rural road. The school district provides crossing guards for intersections, but no one follows the children home.

The burden would be on the business to adequately fence their facility, but if a seven-year-old gets into the Hot Wax area, the chances for a no-fault happy ending would be slim. If it's an issue of safety, the community through its zoning board has an interest in preventing such a business from operating nearby.

Now, if it were a middle or high school, that's different.