Proposal for 3rd Dollar General in Plum sees store downsized

A proposal to build a third Dollar General has returned in Plum, with a smaller building and more parking spaces.

The store still would be built on about 2 acres subdivided from a 9-acre parcel along Saltsburg Road at Clements Road, according to revised plans submitted to the borough for review.

However, it has been reduced in size by about 14% from when it was first proposed earlier this year. Overall, the store has been reduced from 10,640 square feet to 9,100 square feet, with the sales area reduced from about 8,500 square feet to about 7,300 square feet.

The initial plan sought a variance from the borough to have 35 parking spaces, which is 19 fewer than the 54 that a building of that size required. The revised plan with the smaller building shows 46 parking spaces.

“We believe that the number of parking spaces presented on the plan are adequate for the proposed project,” said David Soboslay, assistant borough manager.

No variances are now being sought, Soboslay said.

A Dollar General representative did not respond to a request for comment.

Soboslay said the development will need approvals for conditional use and land development. Council will hold a public hearing on the conditional use, and the borough’s planning commission will issue recommendations to council on both.

According to a tentative schedule, a public hearing on the conditional use would be at 6 p.m. Aug. 7 at the municipal center, and could be left open for additional comment Sept. 6. The planning commission would make its recommendation Aug. 21, with council voting Oct. 11.

Witney Downey and her husband, Lee, have lived on Saltsburg Road next to the pasture where the store would be built for about two years. She said their main concern is for the safety of children who live in the area with additional traffic the store would bring.

The entrance and exit to the store would be on Clements Road, according to plans submitted to the borough. Downey noted that Clements is narrow and unmarked. She said a tractor-trailer turning onto Clements from Saltsburg once got stuck on the overhead utility lines there.

Downey also is concerned that light from the store could spill into her bedroom.

“It is creating jobs for the community, which we totally understand. But the Dollar Generals around us are always closed because they’re understaffed,” she said. “We can’t get employees for the ones we already have in the community, let alone build another one.”

According to the project narrative submitted by Larson Design Group on behalf of the applicant, PTV 1298, the store would be identical in size and appearance to a Dollar General on Unity-Center Road in Plum.

The proposed development is in the borough’s neighborhood mixed-use commercial district, which is intended to provide a mix of residential and low-intensity commercial facilities to serve the immediate area.

The store, proposed to serve surrounding residents, “is not a high-impact development but more localized to provide convenience to shoppers when traveling through their normal day-to-day routines,” the project narrative states.

The narrative says a large part of the customer base for Dollar General is within a 2-mile radius of its stores. The Unity-Center Road store is about 3 miles away, while a Dollar General on Route 286 is about 2½ miles away.