Albany County rejects gas station plan over zoning and traffic concerns

Albany County commissioners rejected the latest request tied to the Tumbleweed Express Gas Station and AKAL Travel Center on East Grand Avenue in Laramie, blocking the project from moving ahead as proposed. The decision keeps a long-running land-use fight alive over where a gas station belongs, and who gets to decide what happens near Albany County’s aquifer protection zone.

The county had first moved to enforce its zoning resolution to stop the gas station development, then later withdrew that action. Commissioner Pete Gosar has discussed the redevelopment project on East Grand Avenue and the county’s shift away from its initial enforcement step, while county meeting materials dated Nov. 2, 2021, list Gosar, Sue Ibarra and Heber Richardson as the commissioners handling the matter.

The water side of the dispute has been just as important as the zoning question. Albany County Clean Water Advocates said nearly a year had passed since the county dropped its effort to enforce zoning laws prohibiting gas stations in the aquifer protection zone, and the group pointed to a February 2020 inspection at AKAL Travel Center. That inspection, the advocates said, found the owner or operator failed to report and investigate a suspected release after an automatic tank gauging result was not obtained in November 2019, December 2019 and January 2020.

For nearby residents, the ruling favors a tighter reading of county land-use rules and keeps pressure on officials to protect groundwater and neighborhood character around Laramie’s edge. For the property owner and the gas station operator, it means the redevelopment cannot proceed in the form that was proposed, and any future attempt would need to fit county standards more clearly.

The decision also sends a signal to future developers and other businesses seeking county approval: a project that looks straightforward on paper can still run into zoning, access and water-quality barriers before commissioners will sign off. In a county balancing growth with rural expectations, the no vote suggests Albany County may be prepared to draw a firmer line on where fuel stations and other intensive uses belong.