After encountering resistance, Buc-ee's pulls plans for huge convenience store in Orange County

Efland, N.C. — The developer of some of the largest gas stations in the world has pulled out of a plan to come to Orange County.

In a letter Friday to the head of the county planning department, a Buc-ee's representative wrote, "Orange County is just not a good fit for Buc-ee's." The decision came after public meetings in which locals voiced concern about the plan for a property with up to 60 double-sized gas pumps and a store comparable to a Wal-Mart in size and in product offerings.

In Texas, Buc-ee's is a pop-culture phenomenon. But in Efland near the site of the proposed development, signs have popped up reading:

"A traffic nightmare is coming!"

"Our home is not a pit stop!"

It appears that message made it to Texas, where, the letter said, the decision to withdraw a zoning application came after an Orange County Board of Commissioners meeting on Jan. 26 and a follow-up request from commissioners that Buc-ee's scale down the number of gas pumps and even the size of signs.