Editor’s note: The video above incorrectly identifies the access road near the land the councilors annexed. The published story below names the correct access road.

IOWA PARK ( KFDX/KJTL ) — Some Iowa Park residents are fuming at talks of a new travel center, but city officials say it’s all a misunderstanding.

After city councilors moved to annex seven acres of land at Pacific and Northwest Access and seven adjacent acres of land at their meeting on Monday, Aug. 26, residents sounded off at the decision in person and online.

“The noise and the sound, the light pollution, property value loss,” Iowa Park resident Brandon Redlich said. “Not to mention what it’s going to do to the small businesses.”

Despite the dismay of residents, City Manager Jerry Flemming said misinformation has spread like wildfire; just because the land was annexed and rezoned, it doesn’t mean that a truck stop will be constructed, Flemming said.

“There was nothing on the agenda about a truck stop,” Flemming said. “So there’s a lot of misinformation out there. All the city council does is own the property. Now, the owner of that property came and he mentioned that he was not building a truck stop, that he was building a travel center there. But none of that has happened yet.”

“It sounds like it’s definitely going to be happening,” Redlich said. “The gentleman had pretty much plans all laid out.”

Despite uproar at Monday’s meeting and others, Flemming said the area was deemed commercial and residential during its development decades ago.

“The Planning and Zoning Commission, like the city council, they do not consider who owns it or who lives next to it,” Flemming said. “So most properties along US-287, along Business 287 and along FM-368, those are the three primary commercial corridors.”

Potential economic boosts aside, Redlich said it will make the area unsafe.

“The bad stories that come from truck stops, I’ve heard dozens of times over,” Redlich said. “I voiced that to Mr. Flemming, ‘What do you think’s going to happen at a 24-hour truck stop when at most we have two, maybe three police on duty?”

Flemming said he’s still sensitive to the issues, but Redlich said it’s too late.

“These people make exactly $0 an hour for the service that they provide. These are people who love the city they live in. They love the residents of the city,” Flemming said. “Sometimes they have to make hard decisions. Cities are constantly growing and changing.”

“Every lawyer that we’ve spoken out to has told us there’s nothing—there’s not a whole lot we can do,” Redlich said. “Unfortunately, they looked at the tax income more than the safety and security of 26 families.”

Redlich added that the 26 homes that would mainly be affected by the construction will have eight-foot walls placed behind them for added security, though Flemming did not confirm this information.

Flemming did, however, say that the landowner is within his right to develop a travel center as long as it complies with the city’s codes.

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