Residents show up for Dollar General public hearing

If approved, the store would be built on a 4.2-acre piece of land on Route 9 and Crown Court in Stockport, and would include parking, landscaping, utilities, lighting and storm-water management, according to the project’s environmental assessment form.

The Dollar General location would use town water and would require the installation of a septic tank on the property.

The proposed retail store would be around 12,500 square feet and would house a Dollar General Market, said Caryn Mlodzianowski, project manager for engineering firm Bohler Engineering.

“This would be a dry goods retail store with a newer concept that they have to bring in fresh food and produce to that store,” she said at the meeting.

The site would also include 42 parking spaces, and accommodations for tractor trailers to complete deliveries to the store. Green space around the site will also be used for stormwater management, Mlodzianowski said.

Agency reviews have already been started by the company, including with the state Department of Transportation to review traffic and design of the site on Route 9, Mlodzianowski said.

“While we do have a little bit of work done, we have a long way to go, this being one step of that process,” she said at the meeting. “We're excited to hear back from the community this evening and take good notes so that we can address your comments and questions as part of our work here.”

The meeting was packed with residents who showed up to share their opinions and ask questions to the representatives in charge of the project.

Michael Hoff of Stockport questioned the ownership of the land the store would sit on.

“Can you explain to me where the land’s coming from? Who owns the land?” he said. “It sounds like two independent people are making a decision to build this, but doesn’t the town own the land?”

The property was purchased by the town in 2007 by a former town board, said Robert Fitzsimmons, Stockport town attorney.

The original plan for the land was to relocate town hall, and possibly allow one of the fire companies in Stockport to build a new firehouse there, Fitzsimmons said.

“The town actually spent money to redo this town hall, and found it a lot more economically feasible to do that than put a lot of money into building a new town hall,” he said. “This town board decided they didn’t need that property anymore, and they wanted to put it back on the tax rolls with something.”

Misty Brew-Kusewich of Stockport questioned the location of the proposed project.

“Why right there?” she said. “Why, and who wanted it right there? What’s gonna happen when it becomes abandoned, because it will become abandoned, it’s just a matter of time.”

The company conducts research to determine the best location of a possible store, said Josh Lanning, development associate for Primax Properties.

“Dollar General does a lot of research globally into where the best-performing store would be with the highest sales,” he said. “They picked that intersection, and I can say in terms of concerns of it becoming abandoned, we’ve built over one hundred stores in the state of New York and each one of them are still occupied by Dollar General.”

Multiple residents mentioned flooding concerns on their property if the store is built, including Tim Farley of Stockport.

“The water is absolutely a problem, and I don't see how the water going to the back, and whatever water management system they want to say is going to help,” he said. “I already get water, and I have a built-in sump pump.”

The store will also cause property values to drop, Farley said.

“My property values have gone up quite a bit,” he said. “That’s not going to continue if this goes in.”

The proposed location of the store is also home to an endangered species of bat, according to the project’s environmental assessment form.

The Indiana bat was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Its numbers have declined by half since it was listed, and fell 19% since 2007, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Threats to the bat include human disturbance when hibernating, loss of summer habitat, as well as pesticides and other contaminants, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Building the project on the planned site will disturb the bat population, Farley said.

“I see them at night flapping around,” he said. "They've acknowledged that they're imposing on the Indiana bats habitat. The reason that they're endangered is they don't do well when they're disturbed. They're going to be disturbed, why would it even be allowed if an endangered species could be impacted?”

The land could be used in a way that better suits the community, said Stockport resident Pik Berwick.

Berwick has been building her home in Stockport for the last seven years, and plans to move in at the end of the month.

“For me, the town of Stockport is small, but we could do with a nature place,” she said. “I would love to see this rewilded. We’re already having problems with the land, let the land and nature do what it wants to do.

Turning the land into a green space could give the town something to be proud of, Berwick said.

“There is not really a public space for people to go to, somewhere with peace and quiet that people need,” she said. “To get away and just walk in nature, I think it’s really important. This could be something that the town could get involved in and be really proud of.”

Increased traffic in the area could affect the safety of the community, said Bob Pesce of Stockport.

Pesce has owned his home in Stockport for 13 years, and has seen multiple accidents in front of his property.

In that time he’s seen the children who live in Crown Court in Stockport grow into teenagers who ride bikes and scooters in the neighborhood.

“They play all along Crown Court, and what’s gonna happen is there’s gonna be a death,” he said. “Nothing is gonna happen until someone is killed, permanently maimed, and it’s gonna be our children.”

Residents of Stockport, and those in the surrounding community, also signed a petition against the proposed Dollar General.

The petition was presented to the Planning Board at the meeting Thursday night by Stockport resident Hedy Roma, who said over 175 Stockport residents and 250 people from the surrounding communities signed the petition.

The town of Stockport Planning Board did not make any decisions on the site plan for the proposed Dollar General.

Planning Board Chairman Dan McCormack said the board was going to leave the public hearing open.

“We’re going to leave this public hearing open to absorb some of this, and go over this with the officials. We’ll listen to what you have to say, we understand,” he said. “We’re not going to vote on it tonight.”

The next meeting of the town planning board is May 9 at 7 p.m. at the Stockport Town Hall.