At its March 5 meeting, San Marcos City Council approved the Buc-ee’s San Marcos location.

During citizen comment, John David Carson, a San Marcos resident, spoke on the downsides and potential disasters of Buc-ee’s SMTX location being approved.

“[Buc-ee’s is] a major contributor to climate change, air quality degradation [and] polluted stormwater,” Carson said. “Buc-ee’s also sells relatively unhealthy food to capture motorists that otherwise might eat at [local] restaurants.”

In response to environmental concerns during the vote, Mayor Jane Hughson said that her personal research showed no environmental issues associated with Buc-ee’s.

“The main complaint was the lighting, which they have addressed with the downward lighting so as not to light up the entire neighborhood,” Hughson said.

William Moore, a regional planning sophomore, brought up one line of questioning that sparked most of the debate during the voting: the treatment of staff.

“Buc-ee’s touts their employee salaries probably in their stores, probably to account for the rapid employee turnover,” Moore said. “On Glassdoor, Bucc-ee’s has an employee rating of three stars. Dropped to 2.9 stars among female employees. 2.6 stars among LGBT employees, 2.2 stars among veterans and 2.1 stars among employees with disabilities”

Councilmember Alyssa Garza, who voted against Buc-ee’s new location, recognized the concerns regarding worker treatment.

“What I’ve heard from our neighbors is the treatment of workers is just absolutely terrible and so I don’t want to have any association with bringing in an entity that is going to carry on that type of behavior,” Garza said. “Perhaps it’s hard to quantify [how well Buc-ee’s treats its staff], however, the fact that we haven’t attempted to is very problematic to me.”

The approval for the new San Marcos Buc-ee’s location passed in a 5-1 vote with Garza voting against it and Councilmember Saul Gonzales absent.

The San Marcos City Council meets at 6 p.m. every first and third Tuesday of each month. For more information, visit the City Council website.