Council denies zoning change for Love’s travel center near Toll Bridge Road; developer, neighbors clash

The Belton City Council denied a rezoning request that would have allowed a Love’s travel center and truck stop on roughly 18 acres near 5890 Toll Bridge Road, voting to disapprove the application with prejudice for six months.

Planning staff presented the proposal as a planned‑development commercial highway zone for a travel center that would include an approximately 11,000‑square‑foot convenience/retail building, a restaurant, truck and RV parking and fueling. Bob, a city planning staff member, said the site plan included about 60–70 retail parking spaces and about 88 truck parking stalls, and that the developer had requested waivers for parking‑island requirements and taller signage. He also said the plan preserves roughly half the trees on site and proposes Trex‑type screening along Toll Bridge Road.

Speakers at the public hearing were sharply divided. Joey Najera, a representative of Hunt Communities (developer of the River Farm master plan across the street), said River Farm will include about 1,775 homes and an elementary school and argued the truck stop would be “not appropriate in my opinion across the street from River Farm,” citing noise, light and air quality concerns. Tess Dula, also speaking for Hunt Communities, warned of “multiple compatibility issues” including proximity to a planned school and residential lots and expressed concern about diesel exhaust and pollutants near children.

Love’s representatives said the company follows strict operational and safety standards and offered mitigation measures. Barbara Peck, speaking for Love’s, said the company “over comply with all regulations” on lighting, pollution control and security and invited council members to visit an existing Love’s site in Troy, Texas, as an example. Brad Peck told the council Love’s anticipated local benefits including job creation and an estimated $500,000 per year in sales tax revenue; he said the company would be willing to work with the city and school district on mitigations such as a bus stop at the facility.

Engineers for the Love’s site described drainage and groundwater protections and said the property already includes an easement that could extend water and sewer lines to adjacent parcels. Sarah Ilesoy, the project engineer, said most site runoff flows north and that tanks or diesel pumps would not be sited in the small southern drainage area adjacent to residential property.

Several nearby residents expressed opposition on quality‑of‑life grounds. Kenneth Stone, who lives next to the site, said he runs youth baseball practices and worried about 24‑hour noise, trash and safety; he said, “I pay $20,000 a year in taxes not to live next to a Love truck stop.” Others, including Love’s witnesses, argued the travel center belongs on a commercial highway corridor and pointed to commercial zoning nearby.

After deliberations about compatibility, overnight RV parking and the site’s proximity to a planned school, the council voted to deny the rezoning request with prejudice for six months, 5–2. Council members voting to deny said the proposed scale of truck and overnight parking, and the potential impacts on a new master‑planned community and elementary school across the street, made the site unsuitable in its current form; several asked staff and the developer to return with a revised proposal that reduces visible truck parking near Toll Bridge Road and addresses screening, parking counts and lighting.

The denial means the applicant could not bring the same PD proposal back to council at that location for six months; staff said they would work with the applicant and adjacent developers on options and that the future land‑use map and Imagine Belton plan remain relevant to the site’s long‑term zoning.