Updated: 2:05 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 10
Preliminary results are in and it appears that residents in Palmer Lake do not want their officials to pursue a Buc-ee’s travel plaza two miles east of the tiny El Paso County town.
Votes counted thus far for the election that ended yesterday show voters want to recall two trustees, Kevin Dreher and Shana Bell, viewed as favorable to the project.
Ball’s recall effort is ahead 657 to 467. Dreher’s is ahead 631 to 489.
It’s unclear how many ballots still need to be counted.
Preliminary results show voters want Roger Mosely and Elizabeth Harris to replace the recalled trustees. John Marble came in at a distant third.
The preliminary results also show residents want to give themselves the power to approve — or reject — all future annexation proposals. That means even if the board of trustees does eventually vote to absorb the land where the Buc-ee’s is planned, final say will rest with town voters.
Of the votes counted so far, 765 are in favor of giving residents the power over annexations, with 375 voting against the measure.
Bucee’s has been seeking to have its development site, which sits alongside I-25 in unincorporated El Paso County, absorbed by the nearby town of Palmer Lake. The company says being part of a municipality is crucial to ensure the travel plaza has access to adequate water for its needs.
On election night, Darren and Angela Fike were huddled up for a couple hours outside the town hall waiting for the results. They don't live in Palmer Lake and couldn't vote in the election – but they live in eyesight from the plot of land where Buc-ee's was planning to build, pending the annexation approval.
They moved to the location after they retired. She worked as a school teacher and he worked for the military.
“We decided to have our retirement home in this area because it is beautiful, because of the wildlife, because of the dark skies,” Angela Fike said. “That's why we bought it. And we've enjoyed having the picturesque scenery and seeing the wildlife in our yards.”
Wildlife, like the deer that she said frequent her yard, not what she called a cartoon beaver lit up by stadium lights within sight from her doorstep.
The Fikes said when they first heard about the proposal they started going to town hall meetings and doing their own research.
“Then within a short time period, it was essentially like, wow, this is like a full-time job. And we spend, it's what we do for the vast majority of our time, is trying to figure out how to help the cause,” Darren Fike said. They said the cause included working to convince their Palmer Lake neighbors to vote against the Buc-ee’s annexation.
The current vote tally is not final. The election included at least 32 overseas voters. As long as those ballots are postmarked by Sept. 9, those votes can be counted up through next Wednesday.
Nancy Jurka and her husband, board member Atis Jurka, were at town hall the night of the election. Atis Jurka said he has some concerns about the massive travel plaza.
“We're a small town community. We're not enamored of big box stores, national franchises. We like small mom and pop operations, the look and feel of a quiet little mountain town dedicated to hiking trails,” Jurka said.
With Palmer Lake Buc-ee's annexation now facing a complicated and arduous road forward, he supposed Buc-ee's could try to continue to move forward with the town or try to look for other governments to work with.
But after months of heated town hall meetings, alleged threats and property damage, Nancy Jurka wonders what's next for the town and its people.
“It's just all this wild human nature that erupted over a gas station and beaver nuggets. So the big thing is, after all is said and done, how is the town going to get back together, unified, and get along?” she said.
