Overview:
After Buc-ee’s withdrew its Palmer Lake annexation request, a company tied to the chain bought nearby land in El Paso County.
A company linked to Buc-ee’s has purchased 53 acres near Palmer Lake, reviving questions about whether the Texas-based travel center chain still plans to build a second Colorado location in the area. The purchase comes months after Buc-ee’s withdrew an annexation request near Palmer Lake following fierce opposition from residents concerned about water use, traffic and the effect a massive travel center could have on the small town’s identity.
For Stephanie Calvert, owner of Calvert’s Mini Market in Palmer Lake, the issue is not whether Buc-ee’s belongs in Colorado. It is whether a 120-pump travel center belongs in a small foothills community where many residents and businesses already depend on limited water.
“I think the location is not ideal,” Calvert said. “We don’t have enough water. Colorado, in general, already has water issues. [Buc-ee’s] would drain our lake. All of the old town is already on wells. It would literally dry up the town because they want a specific location. I don’t have anything against Buc-ee’s, but I have something against the location. That’s the problem.”
Calvert opened Calvert’s Mini Market three years ago as a small, locally focused business built around homemade pizzas and Colorado vendors. She said she is less worried about Buc-ee’s taking customers than about what a massive travel center could mean for the town’s water supply.
“I have certain things that my customers have been buying from me for three years,” Calvert said. “I don’t see [Buc-ee’s] deciding to get local farmers market-type of stuff, so I’m not worried about that per se. But if I don’t have water, I can’t run a business. I can’t run a kitchen, and that’s the same for all of these restaurants on this street.”
Palmer Lake residents say that supporting local businesses is a core value of their community. That helps explain why the town of roughly 2,500 people in the northern foothills of Colorado Springs has so strongly opposed the possibility of Buc-ee’s moving nearby.
“Tri-Lakes Colorado residents say NO to unreasonable and excessive commercial development!” wrote members of Tri-Lakes Preservation, Inc., on the front page of the website stopbuceespalmerlake.com about the development. “How excessive? Buc-ee’s holds the record for the world’s largest gas station.”
When the Texas-based company announced plans to build their second Colorado location within the area in early 2025, backlash from community members led to them withdrawing their application for annexation in February 2026.
“I would say the wide consensus is that most of us don’t want the Buc-ee’s here,” said a Palmer Lake resident who wishes to remain anonymous. “A lot of us live here because we like the small town and the privacy … Building a Buc-ee’s would ruin that.”
After many residents thought the proposal had been defeated, a company connected to Buc-ee’s purchased a 53-acre parcel near I-25 and County Line Road from Monument Ridge West LLC in late April for more than $10 million. That land, which is now owned by Buc-ee’s EPCO, LLC, is approximately three miles from Palmer Lake. The sale included two permits for two wells, which could pump over 11 million gallons of water per year to a potential travel center.
El Paso County officials say Buc-ee’s has yet to submit an application for development on the newly acquired land.
“Buc-ee’s has not submitted an application to El Paso County for development, nor has any development application been submitted for the referenced property,” wrote a spokesperson for the county on their website. “We cannot speak to any intentions of Buc-ee’s, or the property owner. Property owners are not required to disclose their future plans for a property when requesting a boundary line adjustment or grading permit.”
Bucket List reached out to both Buc-ee’s and El Paso County for comment but didn’t receive a response from either party.
While Buc-ee’s has not publicly announced its plans for the site, the land purchase suggests that the company is still interested in developing in the area. The proposed plan discussed during their annexation efforts included a 120-pump travel center that was nearly identical to the one in Johnstown.
For some residents, the prospect of a massive gas station just a few miles from town has reignited their concerns about the 2025 debate.
“[The situation] is frustrating,” said an anonymous resident. “We’ve made it clear that this is not something we want.”
Locals argue that if Buc-ee’s wants another Colorado location, it should choose an already developed site. Instead of building near Palmer Lake, online chatter suggests that Buc-ees consider already developed areas such as Castle Rock, Pueblo, or Lamar.
“If it needs to be built, I hope it’s built in an already developed area, not another expansion eating up more open space,” wrote Reddit user Due_Bit_5496. “Colorado/El Paso County needs to preserve some of the Front Range vistas that make CO so special. Let’s not become another LA megalopolis. Once it’s gone, you can never get it back.”
Despite the heavy opposition and divisive location, the economic impact of an attraction like Buc-ee’s can’t be refuted. In 2025, Johnstown Mayor Michael P. Duncan told Bucket List that Buc-ee’s has been great for his community, as it’s driven up investment in the area and contributed around $1 million annually in sales tax.
But not all communities are the same. What works for a Northern Colorado farming community may not work for a small mountain town along the Palmer Divide. For now, the 2,500 residents of Palmer Lake can’t do much but wait to see whether a new Buc-ee’s proposal emerges and whether the “Disneyland of gas stations” is still headed for their corner of El Paso County.
“It’s awful,” the anonymous resident said. “We’ll have to wait and see how this all plays out, I guess.”
