Plans for a travel plaza on the west side of U.S. 81 was presented to the Hennessey Board of Trustees Thursday night by Town Administrator Tiffany Tillman.

She did not identify the developer but said the multi-million dollar facility, called Howdy Truck Plaza, would be inside the town limits on US 81/SH 51 north of L. Stewart Co. Seed and Grain Co. on the curve north. Passersby have recently noticed dirt work started on that 137 acres purchased in November by Scott Hajek, a Hennessey developer and farmer.

There are three sections shown on the Howdy Truck Plaza plan: the first section north of Stewart’s is a regular fuel island; the middle section includes a convenience store, a restaurant, restrooms, showers and laundry machines, and the third is a semi-truck fuel island.

Tillman said he estimated they would sell $200,000 in fuel a month, generate $150,000 in sales tax, and would give two cents of every gallon of gas sold to the school.

Tillman met with the unnamed travel plaza developer and two others before the board’s 6 p.m. meeting. She said he wants the town to:

• Continue its Main Street straight north a half-mile off US 81 (known as the rock road to Matousek Veterinary Clinic). He wants that road paved to allow easy access to suppliers.

• Add water and sewer service lines to the property.

The town doesn’t currently have the funds to make that happen, she said. So she proposed that the developer pave the road and once the plaza is open and paying sales tax that the town would repay the company using a portion of its four cent sales over a seven year period.

“The developer said he needed to check with his banker,” Tillman said. The board would also have to agree to Tillman’s counter offer.

Trustee Harold Shaw said if he was a trucker that he’d want to stop in Enid instead to be closer to restaurants.

Mayor Bert Gritz said they’d obviously done their homework on expected sales. He also said it could hurt other businesses in town, and some might ask what the town ever did to help them.