A Denver business that operates along the South Platte River is protesting a new neighbor: a QuikTrip gas station and convenience store it says never should have been approved in a floodplain.
which has operated at 2001 S. Platte River Drive for 44 years, has asked the city to reverse approval of a sewer and drainage permit, the last step needed before starting construction. The printing company, its attorneys and water experts contend city regulations clearly prohibit uses like gas stations in a floodplain.
And Publication Printers says the parcel, which is under an acre, is too small for the kind of stormwater drainage system that QuikTrip plans to install.
“Our biggest concern is pollution to the river,” said Solomon Rael, manager of environmental health and safety and facilities for the printing company.
“We don’t know of anywhere in the city of Denver or the state of Colorado where a gas station has been approved that close to the Platte River or river or any body of water,” Rael said.
QuikTrip has started grading the land at the intersection of West Evans Avenue and South Platte River Drive. But Publication Printers will appear before an administrative hearing officer in April to try to overturn the city permit and halt the work.
QuikTrip has opened 26 locations in Colorado since 2022. The Tulsa, Okla., company has more than 1,000 stores in 17 states and a loyal following of fans who like the gas prices and rave about the food. Company spokeswoman Aisha Jefferson said QuikTrip employs about 500 people across Colorado.
Because of the ongoing review of QuikTrip’s permit, Jefferson said she couldn’t respond to Publication Printer’s specific claims about the store planned in southwest Denver.
“QuikTrip has worked closely with the city throughout this project and has completed all required reviews and permitting steps. We trust the city’s established processes and the standards our projects are designed to meet,” Jefferson said in an email.
QuikTrip is “committed to being a responsible and supportive neighbor in the Denver community,” Jefferson added.
Publication Printers believes QuikTrip picked the wrong spot this time.
“The basic issue is that the Denver Municipal Code expressly disallows this type of use on a floodplain parcel,” said Carrie Schaffer, an attorney with Snell &Wilmer, the law firm representing Publication Printers.
Schaffer said the location is about 73 feet from the South Platte River. on a Federal Emergency Management Agency flood insurance rate map. The designation means there’s a 1% chance the area will experience a flood any given year, making it a high risk.
The sewer use and drainage permit issued to QuikTrip is prohibited under a city code that bars the storage or processing of materials that are “flammable, explosive or otherwise potentially injurious to human, animal or plant life in time of flooding,” Snell & Wilmer attorneys said in a Feb. 7 petition to the Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure.
The department declined to comment on the petition’s claims.
“The language of this regulation is unambiguous. The regulation does not authorize conditional approval or mitigation-based exceptions,” attorney William Ojile Jr. said in the petition.
He also criticized QuikTrip’s stormwater drainage plan, which he said doesn’t comply with the design and technical criteria in the city’s manual. He said the 0.89-acre parcel is too small for the detention pond planned for the site.
“Because the approval conflicts with mandatory floodplain protections, violates binding technical criteria, and rests on a design that cannot functionally satisfy Denver’s stormwater requirements, the (permit) lacks any valid legal or technical foundation,” Ojile said in the petition.
The city approved QuikTrip’s site development plan in April 2025 and approved the sewer use and drainage permit Jan. 9. The development plan, filed with the Denver Planning Commission in 2022, was flagged because it was in a floodplain.
Schaffer said Publication Printers unsuccessfully appealed the rezoning of QuikTrip’s land. She said only the chairman of the Board of Adjustment, who raised the floodplain issue, voted against the rezoning.
If the city upholds QuikTrip’s permit, Schaffer said Publication Printers could choose to pursue the matter in state district court.
Rael said he has seen two major floods at work during his 18.5 years with Publication Printers. He worries about the fallout if floodwaters were to carry gasoline into the South Platte River.
The South Platte extends 12.5 miles through Denver. which serves the city and many surrounding suburbs, gets roughly 50% of its water from the South Platte River basin.
The 48-year-old Publication Printers has been involved with , a Denver-based nonprofit, which has worked to revitalize and protect the South Platte River and its tributaries. The printing company, which has 400 employees and customers nationwide, has worked on conservation projects in the area, Rael said.
The company doesn’t store any flammable materials or other items prohibited in floodplains, Rael said. “We worry about the people way downstream, even outside of Denver.”
