Plans for a proposed Buc-ee’s regional travel center are moving forward within the permit review process.
A cross section of staffers on the Application Review Committee offered feedback on what’s needed to ensure the site plan will meet code requirements during a routine meeting on April 22 that was led by the Leon County’s Development Support and Environmental Management.
Last year, the Tallahassee Democrat first broke the news that the Texas-based chain was eyeing approximately 30 acres at the southeast corner of the Park Place Planned Unit Development (PUD) and west of Capital Circle Northwest, immediately north of Interstate 10.
Buc-ee’s wants to build a 74,000 square-foot travel center with 120 fueling stations and wrap-around parking that will accommodate traditional vehicles, buses and recreational vehicles and electric vehicles. Plans call for 807 standard parking spaces, along with 24 electric vehicle parking spaces and about a dozens spaces for buses and RVs.
“Parking will be located on all sides of the building with fueling positions located at the rear (west) of the building,” according to documents submitted by Buc-ee’s. “There will also be 2 stormwater management facilities, water, sewer, and force main. The applicant is also proposing a new lift station in the northwest corner of the proposed site plan that will serve this project as well as future development within the PUD.”
The local reception is a mixed bag of optimism for nearly 200 jobs and the economic boost that brings to broader concerns around traffic congestion and environmental impacts.
Concerns surface about ‘overwhelming’ gas pumps, traffic
Pre-submitted public comments were summarized by a staffer, who said they were generally about traffic and potential impacts to the surrounding neighborhoods.
Ann Bidlingmaier, a longtime environmental activist, was the lone one to air out her grievances at the meeting. She said she has concerns about the project’s potential impact and said “I think that what we are missing is the big picture here.”
She questioned the need for 120 pumps on one site and said staffers should aim to make the project fit with Tallahassee’s standards and not the other way around.
“When you think about 120 individual gas pumps, it’s pretty overwhelming,” she said. “Imagine, if you will, that you’re staring at Doak Campbell Stadium, an empty stadium, and you look after the field and there is a line of gas pumps from the back of the end zone on one end, down the field to the back end zone on the other end.”
Bidlingmaier said that’s what Buc-ee’s is trying to here, adding she moved to North Florida decades ago to avoid these kinds of major developments.
Green light: What’s next for Buc-ee’s approval process?
Leon County Assistant County Attorney Gretchen Kelley Brantley explained the next steps moving forward and how the project’s site plan approval requires two public hearings as part of the permit review process. The day’s meeting was meant to determine if the company’s site plan application meets code requirements at this time.
“When the ARC (Application Review Committee) feels that this project is at a point where it can go to the DRC (Development Review Committee), at that point another public notice will be sent out, another ad will be in the newspaper and the property will be posted again with a notice,” Brantley said.
A representative working on the project said the company will work to submit additional details for its site plan by June 3 and the next public hearing on the project by scheduled at the county’s site Type B review meeting on June 17.
Contact Economic Development Reporter TaMaryn Waters at tlwaters@tallahassee.com and follow @TaMarynWaters on X.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee Buc-ee’s site moves ahead with little opposition
Reporting by TaMaryn Waters, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
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