Oak Creek plan commission recommends rezoning for proposed Buc-ee’s after hour-long public comment

The Oak Creek Plan Commission voted Jan. 28 to recommend a change to the city’s comprehensive land use map and to rezone three parcels on South 20th Street to allow a proposed Buc-ee’s travel center.

The recommendation came after more than an hour of public comment from residents who live near the site, many of whom urged the commission to deny or delay action because of concerns about traffic flow on Oakwood Road and S. 20th Street, noise and light pollution, property values, stormwater runoff and safety. The applicant presented a conceptual plan for a roughly 74,000-square-foot retail building on about 27 acres with what the applicant described as 20 fueling positions (60 fueling “kiosks"), and said a traffic impact analysis had been submitted to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation for review.

Why it matters: The commission’s recommendation sends the rezoning and comprehensive plan amendment to the Common Council for a final decision. If the council approves the change to the comprehensive land use map and the B-6 Interchange Regional Retail District zoning, the applicant will move to site-plan, landscaping and permitting stages that require additional engineering and state reviews, including DOT sign-off on traffic improvements.

City staff described the vote as the first step in a longer review. Christie Lane, community development director, told the commission the city’s comprehensive plan (adopted 2020) currently guides the parcels as Business Park, and that state statute requires the commission adopt a resolution recommending any map change before the council can act. "This is the beginning of a process," Lane said, noting additional details — traffic mitigation, landscaping and site-level engineering — would come in later reviews.

Applicant presentation and scope

Angelia Anik, Buc-ee’s project coordinator, said the company is a family-oriented travel-center operator, not a truck stop. "We are not a truck stop," Anik said. She described Buc-ee’s as a large travel-center concept that draws most customers from well outside the host community and highlighted on-site food preparation and retail operations, local vendor partnerships and employment of roughly 75–200 people at a typical location.

Eric Tracy of Kimley-Horn & Associates, the project’s engineering firm, told the commission the applicant has completed a traffic impact analysis (TIA) and that the TIA is under review by Wisconsin DOT. Tracy said additional site-level work — geotechnical studies, stormwater design and more detailed safety and operations analysis — would be required for later approvals.

Public concerns and city responses

Public commenters who live in nearby subdivisions focused on these recurring themes: - Traffic: Several residents said Oakwood Road and the local subdivision streets are not built to handle the kind of additional traffic they expect a Buc-ee’s could generate. "This magnitude of a 20 pump mega travel station is going to significantly impact the quality of life for the people that live a thousand feet away from here," said Sarah Shreve, who lives on West Oakwood Road. - Safety and emergency response: Commenters asked whether backups would impede emergency vehicles and stressed concerns about more frequent traffic incidents. - Noise and light pollution: Neighbors sought stronger commitments on lighting cutoff, sound mitigation and landscaping buffers. - Environmental runoff: Residents asked about potential fuel runoff into local waterways and requested state-level environmental review and DNR/EPA standards be enforced. - Economic and neighborhood impacts: Speakers raised questions about property values, impacts on existing small businesses and whether a different commercial use might be more suitable.

City staff and officials acknowledged the concerns and described the process for addressing them. City Administrator Andrew Vickers said the planning process will evaluate whether technical issues are "surmountable" and whether impacts can be mitigated so the proposal balances the benefits to the broader Oak Creek community against harms to adjacent properties. "This is the venue for it," Vickers said, noting the DOT review and subsequent hearings before the Common Council would allow residents more opportunity to review detailed engineering and mitigation plans.

Votes and next steps

The commission adopted the required resolution recommending the comprehensive plan amendment and separately recommended the rezoning to the Common Council. Those recommendations are advisory only; the council will hold public hearings and vote on ordinances to change the city plan and to adopt the rezoning. Lane said site landscaping, architecture and permitting would follow and could stretch into spring and early summer.

The applicant does not own the property yet; staff confirmed the land is under contract. Several commissioners said they heard residents’ concerns but indicated they are open to continuing through the review process and considering mitigation measures. If the Common Council approves the amendment and rezoning, the project will still require DOT approval of traffic measures and standard city site-plan approvals.