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Why did hundreds of Monroe County residents sign a petition against a proposed Buc-ee's?

There's a petition with hundreds of signatures against the proposal.

MONROE COUNTY, Ga. — An engineering company applied for permission to build a Buc-ee's travel stop along the Rumble Road exit in Monroe County. 

There's now a planning and zoning and a commission hearing scheduled to decide whether Monroe County will accept the new development. 

Assisting customers from outside the area is not something new for Lynn Johnson. Johnson owns Burty's Boutique, a small business in Monroe County. 

She says she signed a petition against the Buc-ee's proposal because she believes the development would overshadow the town's small-town charm.

“I'm scared it's going to really take away from the downtown business,” Johnson said. 

Nearly 300 people have signed a petition against the Rumble Road plan.

People are hoping they can convince the planning and zoning board to deny the proposal.

"People are going to get off the interstate at Buc-ee's and Rumble Road and eat and shop and not come back up two more exits to get off in the downtown square,” Johnson said. 

Even though some are against it, others are ready for the beaver nuggets. Jason Coleman says he's all about growth.  

“I will live down the road from it, they have some nice bathrooms, and everybody seems friendly there,” Coleman said. 

But he says his only worry is the traffic. 

“It's mainly the traffic," he said. "It's probably going to have the traffic up and this is just an old country road.” 

Johnson says she will attend the hearings to fight for her small community.  

“We will start to lose our small-town feel," Johnson said. "That's the beauty of Forsyth. It's a small town."

There's no word yet from Buc-ee's about when construction in Monroe County will begin but Central Georgia's other location in Warner Robins took a year from start to finish.

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