(TNS) — Ongoing litigation between the city of Huber Heights and the Board of Clark County Commissioners, related to water and sewer services near the future site of Ohio’s first Buc-ee’s store, will have no effect on the store’s construction or operation, according to city officials.
Mayor Jeff Gore took to Facebook recently to confirm a groundbreaking ceremony for the project is tentatively set for Aug. 8, details of which are still in the works, and to quell anxieties surrounding the potential for the lawsuit to cause a snag in the new store’s development process.
“The suit doesn’t affect Buc-ee’s, so they aren’t caught in the middle of anything,” Gore wrote. “They won’t even need sewer service for 8 to 9 months from now, so it doesn’t affect their build schedule. It will be either Huber Heights or Clark County that provides sewer service; one or the other will have it available to them.”
Gore also wrote that the city is “hopeful” that the 74,000-square-foot store will be open by late 2025.
Clark County commissioners filed suit against the city in July 2023, just two weeks before Gore announced that the state’s first Buc-ee’s gas station and convenience shop would be built in Huber Heights.
Clark County argues it has the sole right and authority to operate water and sewer in the service area outlined within a set of longstanding contracts with the city. Huber Heights’ more recent agreement — which would confer that right to the city of Fairborn — is in violation of these agreements, the county asserts.
Huber Heights disagrees, and has continued to move forward on a project expanding wastewater collection and treatment services for businesses and residents on the city’s east side to Fairborn’s treatment facility.
Clark County is asking the court to halt the water and sewer projects while litigation continues.