110420 Virtual Planning Board Minutes

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Approved 1/6/21 279 Beth Trahos: I was going to add briefly that is another attractive element of this site. It is one of your Commercial Industrial 280 Activity nodes so this is among the uses that are recommended by your Future Land Use map for this property. I think that 281 is another reason that it's attractive for this use. 282 283 Stan Beard: As to who owns it, some of the Efland family owns it and then the smaller parcel is owned by Ben Lloyd. Local 284 folks who have been around awhile and I think you will hear from Ben later that he wasn't even going to talk to us until he 285 came and saw it. He saw an operating Buc-ee's and it changed his mind. I hope I answered your questions. 286 287 Carrie Fletcher: I think you did a fine job and I appreciate the time to do all that. Those are my main concerns. I think the 288 project actually looks quite well thought out. I always have concerns about major building in Orange County because I 289 enjoy the rural life style and I'm sure a lot of people that are going to have comments tonight are also going to be 290 concerned about that aspect of your building. We protect our Orange County quite adamantly and vigorously it's very 291 personal for many of us so I hope you appreciate my questions and thank you for your time. 292 293 Stan Beard: We think our positioning in that area is very appropriate for what we are and we do think that if you go to 294 Highway 70 just a mile north and drive that whole stretch,you would never know we were there. 295 296 Carrie Fletcher: I'm not sure about that giant sign though. 297 298 Adam Beeman: I know you can't tell us about current tenants for the Efland Station but maybe you could fill us in on the 299 type of tenants you have at other ones as far as major restaurants. What type of restaurants or brands tend to follow Buc- 300 ee's. 301 302 Stan Beard: Again,we are very particular about who our neighbors are and so who we allow to be our neighbors and who 303 usually want to be our neighbors are fairly well established regional or national sit down type restaurants, Chili's, Olive 304 Garden, Lone Star Steakhouse, it will not be fast food or drive thru. We restrict drive thru. We have pick up windows like 305 Panera or a Qdoba or those types that are in smaller shopping center regional, neighborhood type stuff,you'll see in our 306 other developments. We are extremely protective of our brand and our operating. We are all about creating the safest 307 place on the freeway for you,your family, your wife,your daughters to stop in the middle of the night, alone and go to the 308 restroom and hear a cheery voice and get a nice sandwich. 309 310 Chair Blankfard asked if Planning Board members had additional questions at this time. Hearing none, he suggested 311 opening up the meeting to public comments. Members of the public were required to sign up with staff in advance and 312 were called upon in the order they contacted staff. Perdita Holtz and Brian Carson facilitated the technical aspects of the 313 public comment time. 314 315 Kaye Brown: I'm Kaye Brown and just 49 days ago I heard the Buc-ee's Travel Center was coming to the site 4,000 feet 316 from a small horse farm I've owned since 1988 and less than one week ago today, I learned that Buc-ee's plans for the 317 efficient grab and go needs of the tens of thousands of daily customers will mean that I can no longer travel Ben Johnson 318 Road to either the interstates or US 70 and I have for three decades just to get to my farm. Why this rush to push this 319 negative project through in 49 days? A time when we've had COVID panic and election panic and now we have a Buc-ee's 320 in Efland panic. Why hasn't a project of this size and impact been through the typical developer/community dialogues with 321 advisory panels and focus groups? Well as a licensed general contractor,with a degree in real estate design and 322 development, I think I know why. Efland Station doesn't need focus groups because it doesn't have anything at all to do 323 with Efland. Efland is merely being asked to house the Buc-ee's. How do I know this? Because you just heard Stan Beard 324 speaking for Buc-ee's and he has been asked numerous time why did you choose Efland for this project and he 325 consistently replies, 125,000 cars pass this site every day that's why,this site was made for Buc-ee's. Well, I frankly 326 applaud his straight up honest answer. The company's business model, quite simply to the largest number of these 327 travelers to the stores quickly and efficiently for a pleasant but brief visit. So why are Buc-ee's so big? Well their founder 328 Beaver Aplin said in the Texas monthly interview last year,we like to be spacious,we like to give everybody their own 329 space,their own shopping experience. It's one of the reasons it gets so big because if you try to enhance the place 330 everywhere it grows and grows and the next thing you know,well it might all seem a touch overkill, he said. Yes, it does, 331 overkill, here we are one week after the final road plans were posted in a week filled with many panics and I ask has 332 anybody has time to look at these plans, much less collect their thoughts in time to express them to you. Buc-ee's has built 333 this exact rural prototype elsewhere which is very lucky because it give you a chance to learn from the experiences of many 334 others. It's quite easy to compare the pre-imposed occupancy,travel estimates for a project of this size. Planning