Plans for a Buc-ee’s convenience store between Madison and Wisconsin Dells include a $15 million Interstate 39/90/94 interchange upgrade — with Buc-ee’s asking to split the project costs between the company and taxpayers — and the request has made the timeline for the start of construction uncertain.
Buc-ee’s is offering to spend up to $8.1 million to build a new Interstate 39/90/94 interchange in DeForest, in northern Dane County, according to a proposal to city officials. The new development is requested at the County V interchange, with the popular convenience store and other new development expected to dramatically increase traffic in the area.
DeForest Village Administrator Bill Chang said Wednesday that the funding proposal was a “challenging number” for the village, which is exploring funding through means like a tax improvement district.
The Buc-ee’s site is outside of any current tax improvement district in the village, Chang said. The village is also hampered by a state law that limits its ability to grow a current tax improvement district or create a new one and include the Buc-ee’s site, he said.
“It’s a big ask, something that generally a community our size would not be prepared to take on,” Chang said. “(The tax improvement district) may be able to assist in public improvements. … That’s a policy decision for the village board.”
Negotiations will delay a construction start date that was initially planned for this summer, Chang said. He said that proposal was “very early on in the process” and that DeForest will have to conducts its own analysis of the Buc-ee’s proposal.
Chang noted that the interchange, with an interstate and a county highway, is outside of the village jurisdiction, posing further funding questions.
“So the question is …. should the village take the full brunt of this?” he said. “There’s not, per se, a number that we’d be comfortable with. It just depends on who are all the players.”
Buc-ee’s announced the plans for its first Wisconsin location in early 2023, resulting in much excitement. Some of that is due to its sheer size and reputation — the 75,000-square-foot convenience store would have roughly 120 gas pumps, for instance, and it’s expected to be a major hub for travel commerce.
The proposed cost-share agreement was discussed at a June 18 DeForest Village Board meeting in closed session. In an email, Chang said no action taken during or after the closed session.
Buc-ee’s has yet to submit an approval request for a site plan, a document that’s greenlit by local authorities before authorization is given for construction. Chang said the financing for the infrastructure project would likely need to be settled before that occurs.
Buc-ee’s had previously told the Journal Sentinel that the company hoped to start construction this summer.
In a memo, Stan Beard, Buc-ee’s director of real estate, wrote that the proposal is in line with the company’s agreements in other states “where the existing transportation infrastructure is not adequate for a Buc-ee’s.”
“The scenario obviously requires ‘others’ to participate in the remaining 46.33% of the cost,” Berard’s memo reads. “I have no doubt that the economic impact of this Buc-ee’s project will provide significant return of, and on, this investment for many years to come. We have too many examples of success to think otherwise.”
The Buc-ee’s memo details that a traffic analysis by engineering firm Kimley-Horn showed that 53.67% of the interchange’s total traffic volume would come from the convenience store by 2034.
The proposed interchange improvements would create a diverging diamond interchange, according to the memo. DeForest’s Chang said that the Wisconsin Department of Transportation agrees that, if Buc-ee’s were to come, that it would need the interchange upgrade.
The interstate corridor is under a Wisconsin Department of Transportation study and, without Buc-ee’s development, is planned for less extensive updates.
“As a result of this work, the parties ultimately agreed that the Interchange Project is required for the operational integrity of the Buc-ee’s Project and anticipated future growth of the areas surrounding this intersection,” the Buc-ee’s memo reads.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: First Wisconsin Buc-ee’s in DeForest delayed as cost-sharing at issue
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