Lufkin gas station approved despite resident concerns over neighborhood rules

LUFKIN, Texas (KTRE) - A new gas station is coming to Lufkin’s south side, but some residents say the project breaks the rules of their own neighborhood.

The Lufkin Planning and Zoning Commission approved a revised site plan this week for a gas station called “On the Road” at 4093 South First Street along Highway 59. The commission voted 2-1 in favor.

The neighborhood is part of a planned unit development - a community built under its own set of rules about what can and cannot be constructed. Some residents say a gas station violates those rules.

“They were calling this a truck stop and when they realized that they had opposition, now they’re calling it an automobile service station,” said Tom Darmstadter II, a concerned Lufkin resident. “The documents they filed with the state call it a mini truck stop with fast food. So the question is — what is it really?”

City Planner Alaina Helton said the updated plan scaled back the original proposal.

“This new revised site plan was limited to just the convenience store and fuel pumps for passenger vehicles,” Helton said. “All of the semi-truck parking and fuel pumps — those were removed from the site plan.”

Helton said the project meets the city’s definition of an automobile service station.

Which states: “Any building, land area, or other premises, or portion thereof, used for the retail dispensing or sales of vehicular fuels; servicing and repair of automobiles; and including as an accessory use the sale and installation of lubricants, tires, batteries, similar vehicle accessories and sundry items.”

“It doesn’t make a distinction between semi-truck vehicles or passenger vehicles. A truck stop would also fall into that category,” Helton said. “The definition is broad in that way - but that may have been the source of the confusion.”

Residents are also raising concerns about traffic on an already fast-moving stretch of highway.

“It is posted 60 mph, but these trucks are running at a lot higher speed than that,” Darmstadter II said. “About 90% of the traffic out of the settlement has to cross through that intersection to get back to Lufkin.”

The city says the developer will be required to work with TxDOT to build new deceleration and acceleration lanes along U.S. 59. The city did not provide a construction timeline.

“The citizens of Lufkin deserve better,” Darmstadter II said. “This city is going to grow -and I am not anti-growth. But it’s about responsible growth. We have zoning for a reason.”

The applicant has already submitted a building permit. As a condition of approval, all outdoor lighting at the site must be pointed downward to reduce light pollution and glare for neighboring properties. The city is now waiting on lighting specifications before it can issue that permit.