A proposed second Buc-ee’s location in north El Paso County hit a significant speed bump this week.

The El Paso County Planning and Community Development Department turned down the national travel center’s request for designating its use of land off County Line Road and Interstate 25 as a convenience store not a gas station.

The filing by Buc-ee’s last month was the latest chapter in what has been a contentious plan to build the company’s second location in the state. The other is north of Denver.

In a letter to Buc-ee’s EPCO, LLC dated July 1, the county concluded that “based on the definitions, historical approvals and comparative analysis, the staff finds it difficult to classify the proposed use.

“Because it is unclear whether the use meets the LDC definition of a ‘Convenience Store,’ staff cannot determine whether it is sufficiently similar to allowed uses within the C-1 zoning district to qualify as an allowed use.”

The distinction matters, since the zoning on the land where Buc-ee’s wants to build will allow one but not the other. Land zoning limits how land can be used — for example, a heavy industrial plant often cannot be built in the same place as a neighborhood of single-family homes. In El Paso County, dozens of use types are defined and different zones allow different uses.

The parcel at the corner of County Line Road and Interstate 25 where Buc-ee’s wants to build is zoned C-1, an “obsolete” zone type. According to the latest version of the county’s Land Development Code, C-1 allows a wide variety of uses, such as shopping centers, funeral homes, bars, kennels — even billiard parlors. A convenience store or something close enough to it is allowed, but a gas station or truck stop is not.

Buc-ee’s will have one month to appeal the decision, according to the administrative determination.