Residents say Buc-ee’s approval harmed local planning, urge code rewrite and review

Several residents used the public-comment period to press the Board of County Commissioners to revisit recent administrative decisions that allowed a large Buc-ee’s travel center to proceed without rezoning or planning commission review. An in-person commenter characterized the project — described from applicants’ filings as about 120 fueling positions and a 74,000-square-foot travel center — as being improperly classified and urged consistent application of the land development code.

"If you make the gas station big enough, add enough pumps, sell enough food, t-shirts, beavers, and cheap merchandise, it magically becomes a convenience store," the resident said, urging commissioners to apply zoning and land-use rules uniformly. The speaker added that residents’ property rights and community infrastructure (roads, water, evacuation capacity) should be protected.

Another commenter, Laurel Scout, traced the administrative path that allowed the project to reach the board as an administrative determination and asked whether the ongoing code rewrite and the 2021 master plan update would correct or entrench the decision. Scout said Vertex represented Buc-ee’s at the administrative hearing and cited the applicant’s projection of "22,150 daily trips onto County Line Road, more than 93% assigned to Interstate 25," warning that the scale of traffic and required infrastructure would "tear to shreds the fabric of a community."

Speakers urged more transparent application of the county’s land development code and asked how residents will be able to review the 513‑page draft of the code rewrite. The board did not take action during public comment; these remarks were delivered during the public-comment period and will need to be addressed through the county’s land-use and code-review processes.