The long-promised Buc‑ee's travel plaza in Mebane has hit a wall, and it is made of sewer pipe and legal briefs. The massive roadside stop has become the flashpoint in an escalating fight between neighboring towns Mebane and Graham over who should pick up the tab for roughly $85 million in sewer upgrades tied to Graham’s wastewater treatment plant. Mebane officials say Graham, which controls wastewater approvals for the shared system, has delayed or withheld key certifications contractors need to start underground work, and the dispute has now landed in Alamance County Superior Court.
At the center of the feud is an $84.6 million expansion Graham has planned for its wastewater plant and a basic question: how much of that bill belongs to Mebane. Graham contends Mebane should pay about a 21.4 percent share, roughly $18.1 million. Mebane argues its maximum obligation is closer to $10.7 million. That gap has turned into what the Triangle Business Journal has described as an $85 million dispute.
Mebane filed suit in December 2025, asking a judge for a declaratory judgment that would lock in what it actually owes under the parties’ agreement. The city is also asking the court to force Graham to sign "Flow Tracing for Sewer Extension" (FTSE) certifications for projects that want to connect to the plant. In the complaint, Mebane alleges Graham slow‑walked or withheld FTSE approvals for multiple developments, including the Buc‑ee's site. As one example, the lawsuit points to an FTSE submitted on June 27, 2025 that was not signed until August 28, 2025, according to Alamance News.
Why a flow‑tracing signoff can stop a build
FTSEs and similar state capacity certifications are a crucial early checkpoint for new development. They confirm whether a wastewater plant has enough available capacity for additional sewer connections and are often required before anyone can start laying underground sewer lines. In practical terms, that makes the FTSE the first physical green light a project needs, so any snag at the wastewater plant level can stall an entire construction schedule.
The Buc‑ee's proposal is not a small add‑on either. Plans call for roughly 74,000 square feet of building space, more than 120 fueling positions and electric vehicle chargers. Road projects led by the city and the North Carolina Department of Transportation are tied to the site and must be coordinated with sewer work before crews can fully break ground, according to WXII.
Other projects are feeling the squeeze
The Buc‑ee's is not the only development caught in the crossfire. City filings and the lawsuit say the same FTSE delays have affected a Koury Corporation‑led mixed‑use center planned across the interstate, as well as a final phase of the Cambridge Park community and other subdivisions that expected to hook into Graham's system. Those projects planned sewer reroutes through the GKN pump station and depended on FTSE signoffs to connect to the Graham plant. Mebane argues that withholding or slowing those approvals violates agreements between the two cities, according to Alamance News.
Legal stakes and what happens next
In court, Mebane is asking a judge to interpret a 2017 wastewater capacity agreement and to cap its liability at the lower figures the city has put forward, while also requiring Graham to sign future FTSE certifications so construction can move ahead. Both municipalities have authorized staff and legal counsel to confront the dispute as it moves through the legal system. The case is expected to turn on contract language, billing records and whether the plant upgrade counts as an "agreed‑upon" improvement under the existing deal, as reported by the Triangle Business Journal.
For nearby residents and businesses, the concern is timing as much as legal theory. Engineers for the DOT and the city have warned that if permitting and roadwork do not line up, the projected opening window for Buc‑ee's could slide into mid‑2027, which would also push back the jobs and sales‑tax revenue tied to the project. Court hearings and city council meetings over the coming months will likely determine whether the travel plaza and surrounding developments stay anywhere close to the timeline developers had in mind, according to WXII.
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