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Corinth Rejects Massive Buc-ee's Convenience Store Proposal

CORINTH (CBSDFW.COM) - After a six-hour meeting that stretched into the early hours Friday, a sharply divided Corinth City Council voted to reject a proposed Buc-ee's convenience store that would have been located off I-35.

The final vote was 3-2.

In their deliberations, city leaders raised four concerns:

The store concept works better in rural areas not suburban ones like Corinth.

The Buc-ee's proposal did not meet 14 zoning codes already on the books.

Buc-ee's needed to meet the city's planned development codes

The standards Buc-ee's proposed were much lower than city standards already in place.

Before the vote, residents sounded off on the massive development.

"We're talking about a gigantic business jeopardizing a neighborhood," said resident Carolina Lima.

Plans showed the Buc-ees store would offer 96 gas pumps and more than 600 parking spaces spanning 18 acres. But city officials said the store would have brought significant economic development to the area. City records showed Corinth expected the store to draw more than 7,000 customers a day.

Lima said she feared seeing traffic from the mega-store from her front lawn. She bought her house a year and a half ago. Now, she said she's ready to sell if Buc-ee's moves in.

"I just came back from the airport, sat down in my driveway, and literally cried," said Lima, who admits she never would have bought her house if she knew this was going to happen -- ever.

Other residents such as Lima said they're worried about: out of state crowds, traffic congestion, noise and the overall impact on home values.

The city had expected to bring in $75,000 in property taxes alone, on top of sales tax revenue.

Buc-ee's had planned to break ground as early as January 2015.

(©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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