The lot sits on nearly five acres off U.S. 285 along Halley's Avenue. Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores already owns it, and it is zoned for a fuel center. According to The Mountain Mail, Love's asked the Poncha Springs Board of Trustees last October for approval to build a truck stop there. Trustees denied it and sided with locals who objected to its size and noise. The company also pursued a travel stop in town in 2021. Ark Valley Voice found town minutes from that July listing a public hearing set for August 23.
On October 15, Love's brought a third version to a community meeting at Elevation Beer Company, 115 Pahlone Parkway. It is a convenience store with no truck parking. Taking the trucks out answered the objection that sank last year's plan. The new design also changed how cars would reach the site, and that raises a different question. The plan now comes down to traffic on the local streets around Halley's Avenue, and the documents that would settle it are a traffic study and a site plan. At the October meeting, the study was still underway and the site plans were described as preliminary.
What Love's put on the table
Most of the specifics came out at the meeting, through presentations by Kevin McCarthy of Love's and Nathan Curtis of 3 Rocks Engineering & Surveying, the company's civil engineer. Here is the plan as The Mountain Mail's meeting coverage laid it out:
| Element | As presented October 15 |
|---|---|
| Site | Roughly 200,000 square feet, nearly five acres |
| Building | Estimated 12,000 to 14,000 square feet, 22 to 24 feet high |
| Paved footprint | About 60,000 square feet for building, parking and pumps |
| Fuel | Eight pumps, two fueling positions each |
| Canopy | Estimated 16 feet, with minimal canopy lighting under consideration |
| Pole sign | Discussed at up to 25 feet, subject to what is allowed |
| Screening | Eight-foot privacy fence proposed on the north/northwest side |
| Trucks | No truck parking and no overnight idling |
| Access | Via local roads, with no direct entrance from U.S. 285 or CR 120 |
McCarthy compared the size to the Love's in Buena Vista. That store is at 115 Harrison Ave. He also told the meeting the Poncha site would never become a truck stop. Love's estimates the store would employ about 27 people and generate roughly $800,000 a year in supported taxes.
Under the access plan, cars would not turn straight in from the highway. They would reach the pumps on local roads.
The questions all led back to those roads
Most of the questions at the meeting came back to the access plan. Many attendees worried about more traffic. People living in the neighborhood behind the site said they did not want Love's customers cutting through residential streets to get to the highway. The Mountain Mail reported McCarthy's answer:
"They're going to cut back through the neighborhood. That happens. But hopefully, we can work to try and make it more inviting to go back the way it came and not cut through neighborhoods. If we had some signage up there that says no through traffic, that's a start, right?"
The firmer answer depends on a study. McCarthy said Love's is working through CDOT with a licensed professional traffic engineer on a traffic study. If it shows the site needs improvements such as an additional turning lane, he said Love's would pay for them.
The other concerns raised that night also depended on plan details that were not yet drawn.
- Noise. Homeowners near the site asked for a barrier, such as a wall or a treeline, to keep sound away from nearby bedrooms. Curtis said Love's would consider one, but the site plans were still too preliminary to say what the rear barrier would look like.
- Night sky. Residents asked whether the store's lights would fit the area's dark sky certification. Curtis said Love's uses photometric lighting plans and lighting consultants to aim light downward and limit spill beyond the property line. He said the plan would be checked against the applicable dark sky requirements and reviewed by the town.
- The local grocery. Orin LaGree, owner of LaGree's Market, asked how much business the store would draw from the town's grocery. "We sell ice. You sell ice. I sell chips. You sell chips. I sell deli food. You're going to sell deli food," he said, according to The Mountain Mail. The Love's team did not have those figures. They said they expect the grocery would still be busy because Love's food prices would likely be higher.
There was at least one supporter in the room. He said the area needs a fuel stop for people towing campers and trailers, pointed to seasonal demand, and spoke well of the Buena Vista store. The paper reported that most attendees who spoke did not support moving the project forward.
The town's review begins when Love's files an application
The meeting was hosted by Love's. It was not a town hearing. On the day of the meeting, Town Administrator Lance Hostetter told Ark Valley Voice that Love's had not submitted an application and had given no timeline for submitting one or moving ahead with the project.
Hostetter described the steps once an application arrives, according to The Mountain Mail:
- Love's files a building application.
- The town conducts a site plan review.
- Love's meets several times with town staff and contract planners.
- The project goes to the Board of Trustees for consideration and approval.
He estimated that process at two to three months or more. If the project is approved, McCarthy called construction "a nine-to-12-month project," and said its timing depends on how the community and the board respond. Curtis said the lighting plan would be reviewed by the town, which makes the site plan review the point where the lighting questions from October 15 get answered.
Hostetter did not take a side. He told The Mountain Mail that "gas stations bring in good tax revenue, and we have big plans in Poncha," and that new businesses will get "inquisitive thought partnership from the town, so long as it complies with what the people of Poncha Springs want." On what the people want, he called it a toss-up.
The chargers are on a separate track
One piece of this site already has money attached. Ark Valley Voice found Colorado Energy Office records listing a $1 million federal award to Love's for an electric vehicle charging project in Poncha Springs. It covers eight requested charging stations, with Tesla named as the equipment provider and network. The award came in the May 2026 funding round of the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program and is marked "In progress." The spreadsheet gives the location as U.S. 50, U.S. 285 and CO 120, with no street address or opening date. Ark Valley Voice noted that the award does not mean the town has approved a store or that construction has started.
The same funding round lists Love's projects in Alamosa, Bennett and Brush. The four locations together account for $4.1 million in federal awards and 32 requested charging stations. Poncha Springs already has eight Tesla Superchargers at Poncha Market, 6250 U.S. Highway 285, with charging speeds up to 150 kilowatts.
Where this will be decided
Under the process Hostetter described, the final decision belongs to the Board of Trustees. Poncha Springs Town Hall is at 333 Burnett Ave. The access, the rear barrier, the canopy and the pole sign would all be settled in that review, once Love's files an application.
If you own a home or land near Halley's Avenue and want to talk through how a project like this could affect your plans, the team at First Colorado Land Office has followed Poncha Springs land use since 1973 and is glad to help. Get in Touch Today.
