Is Buc-ee’s too big for this NC town? Why some oppose the mega gas station, again.

Ahead of a vote that could pave the way for a really big gas station in a small town, local residents Wednesday renewed their opposition to a Buc-ee’s mega travel stop in Mebane.

Texas-based Buc-ee’s, known for its beaver mascot logo and clean bathrooms, wants to build a 74,000-square foot travel plaza across 32 acres at 1425 Trollingwood-Hawfields Road.

“All this company cares about is their bottom line,” Del Ward, an organizer with Voice for Orange County, said at a noon press conference outside Mebane City Hall.

“They could care less about what the environmental, traffic or business repercussions that their gas station being built may have on the communities that they build in and around,” Ward said.

Critics say Buc-ee’s would add thousands of cars a day to N.C. 119, a corridor in Alamance County, to Interstates 85 and 40.

Other concerns include stormwater runoff and competition that could hurt local stores and restaurants in the town of about 19,000 people.

The News & Observer contacted Buc-ee’s’ offices for comment but did not hear back Wednesday afternoon.

Emily Sutton of Haw River Assembly, a nonprofit that advocates for the Haw River and Jordan Lake, said the underground storage tanks needed for the planned 60 pump stations could threaten residents’ water quality.

“These underground storage tanks leak,” Sutton said. “This site is located directly in between two streams that go into the Haw River watershed. Downstream, there are hundreds of thousands of people pulling drinking water from the Haw, the Cape Fear (river) and Jordan Lake.”

How big would the Buc-ee’s be? The new Buc-ee’s would be about the size of the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, which is 33 acres. Residents say that’s too much for Mebane, which is located mostly in Alamance County and partly in Orange County.

All told, the mega gas station would have 120 fueling spots (60 pump stations) and about 650 parking spaces.

Where does the new project stand? The Mebane City Council will review and could vote during a meeting that begins at 6 p.m. Monday.

The city’s Planning Board voted 6-3 last month to recommend the council deny the project.

On Wednesday, residents and community activists delivered a petition with about 1,000 signatures against the project, to the city manager.

“Should we just be told what’s in our best interest, or should we be given the dignity of our choices?” said Mebane resident Jason Keck.

Former Native American trading path: Keck and his partner Crystal Cavalier-Keck of the group 7 Directions for Service emphasized the project’s environmental impact.

Building a Buc-ee’s in the Hawfields Road area could pollute Back Creek and the Haw River, which is sacred to the Occaneechi band of the Saponi Nation, who are indigenous to the Piedmont of North Carolina.

“(They’re) destroying historic relics such as my ancestors’ trading path,” said Cavalier-Keck, a Mebane native and tribal member. “They’re building right through it.”

Cavalier-Keck said the area is part of the historic Indian Trading Path, or Catawba Path, which connects the area along Old N.C. 10, Bowden Road and Old Hillsborough Road. It connects to tribal lands in Orange County.

She added that existing businesses along N.C. 119 — two UPS facilities, and Lidl and Walmart distribution centers — already infringe on the ancestral lands and the environment.

Didn’t Buc-ee’s want to build in North Carolina before? Yes. This is the chain’s second attempt at building in the Triangle area. Orange County residents rallied against the company’s 2020 proposal to build in Efland, in the western part of the county.

Orange County commissioners rejected the plan, saying the proposed 64,000-square-foot store and its 80-foot sign were too big.

Buc-ee’s’ Mebane, NC project details

▪ CSMS Management LLC, which is affiliated with Buc-ee’s, paid $12.8 million for the land last October, according to Alamance County records.

▪ The seller, CHI/Acquisitions, LP, had bought the land as part of a 90-acre, $14 million deal last year.

▪ CHI/Acquisitions is the development arm of Crow Holdings Industrial, which got Mebane’s approval to annex and rezone the property for warehouses in December 2022. The Buc-ee’s plan needs Mebane City Council approval to rezone the land again for the travel plaza.

▪ The company wants a 400-square-foot sign that is 90 feet tall — about the length of a college basketball court. Mebane’s limit is a 300-square-foot sign that is 60 feet tall. Buc-ee’s also wants wall signs bigger than 200 square feet.

▪ Buc-ee’s has been working with Mebane officials for several months to revise the plan, which city staff members now say meets Mebane’s plans for growth in that area.