Oak Creek’s Plan Commission last night approved Buc-ee’s Oak Creek plans to build what would become its second gas station in Wisconsin.
The unanimous vote on the more than 73,000 square foot plan on the corner of 27th Street and Elm Road along I-94 came with some slight modifications to what Buc-ee’s originally submitted. The changes included clearly painted pedestrian walkways from the parking lots and additional landscaping.
Still, some Oak Creek residents raised concerns about the increased traffic that the 24-hour business would bring, as well as fuel vapors and potential groundwater pollution.
“And the other thing is just all the sacrificial lambs here,” one said. “Nobody cares that our home values are going to go down, that the city will actually lose money because of tax dollars after our home values go down.”
Mayor Daniel Bukiewicz argued “we’re going to get a great corporate partner in Buc-ee’s.”
“And by all accounts, everybody we’ve talked to across the country enjoys having them within their community,” he said. “Even one person said, ‘If we could get a second one, we’d take a second.’ … Nobody likes to hear it, but there is a tax benefit. Right now there is not a lot of tax value on that land.”
But another resident argued the pollution just won’t be worth it.
“We’re going to hear that 24/7, we’re going to get the negative effects of gas fumes,” she said. “Mr. [Ald. Greg] Loerck, I know you said it’s not going to go into the Root River, into Lake Michigan. Pardon my language, bullshit.”
The proposal predicts roughly 10,080 vehicles per day will visit the station, which would have a fulltime staff of 200-250. It would be one of Buc-ee’s 36 travel centers around the country so far, with two fueling canopies that span a combined nearly 1,000 feet. The company’s first Wisconsin location will be in DeForest.
Buc-ee’s also requested to build 665 parking spaces, which would require additional approval, and plans to plant 58 new trees to make up for the 19 trees the construction will cut down. No carwash was included in the proposal.
The business also plans to erect a fence between the new station and a neighboring house and farmland.
“Neighbors, all I can say is change is pain, but It’ll all work out in the end. It’s going to be a benefit,” Bukiewicz said after the vote.
