Dollar General locating on Highway 17?

Outrage is building over plans by Dollar General to build on 9 acres they purchased from the property owner on Highway 17 between Fritchey’s and the Hwy 255A intersection. The property is zoned HI, High Intensity, which allows for the property to be developed with few uses prohibited. A link to the regulation is provided at the end of the story. According to the petition, “this area of our county is one of rural properties and scenic byways leading into the historic Sautee-Nacoochee Valley. It is one of the two most visited  2 lane roads in the county by tourists leaving city sprawl to enjoy the views and vistas in the county.” Sucessful efforts to derail the proposed I-3, which would have been located along this route, garnered wide support from across multiple counties in a effort to protect the scenic and rural character of this byway.

According to Tom Braswell, Director of the Planning Department, the property was zoned HI in the original zoning in 1992 simply because of the building on the property, which most recently had housed Yvonne’s Antiques, but has been vacant for decades.

During the developement of the 2008 Comprehensive Land Use plan development, public hearings were held across the county and a great deal of public input was sought. If the Land Use Plan had been adopted, this property would have been zoned “Resource Conservation” whose purpose was to “preserve the rural character” of the area. Under this designation, Dollar General may not have been able to build, but could have been approved with conditions. Under the HI designation, Dollar General does not have to go before the commission, it is a permited use and they simply have to comply with the regulation. Dollar General actually searched for this property in the tax records and sought out the owner, Mr. Lindsay, who also owns property across the highway.

After theapplication was submitted to the Planning department, Dollar General made an offer the the County. The sale of the property was for 9 acres. Dollar General only needs 3 acres, so they have offered to donate the remaing 6 acres to the county. The offer was made after the permitting process was underway and does not include any contingencies

Dollar General is undergoing explosive growth under the current CEO, Rick Dreiling. This month, the company is on track to open its 700th store for the fiscal year, 2014. In a conference call with an analyst, the company outlined a strategy that included “focusing on affordability, selling more higher-margin private label goods, and promoting its digital coupon program.” In addition, Dollar General ranks as the 4th worst company to work for in the US according to 24/7 Wall Street’s annual ranking. In January, Dollar General lost their bid to buy Family Dollar. They are very familiar to NASCAR enthusiasts as the sponser of Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers, as well as IZOD Indy Car races.

The Habersham County Commission meets on Monday, March 16th at 6pm and petitioners are asking for support at the meeting.

The petition can be found here: https://www.change.org/p/dollar-general-habersham-county-commissioners-we-want-you-to-rescind-the-approval-of-the-dollar-general-store-on-rural-road-hwy-17-or-create-conditions-for-lighting-building-type-store-hours-and-landscape

In addition to the petition, a facebook site has been set up at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-Dollar-General-on-Gorgeous-HWY-17/1040411635974692?fref=ts

Here is the link to the regulation of HI: https://www.municode.com/library/ga/habersham_county/codes/code_of_ordinances?searchRequest=%7B%22searchText%22:%22high%20intensity%22,%22pageNum%22:1,%22resultsPerPage%22:25,%22booleanSearch%22:false,%22stemming%22:true,%22fuzzy%22:false,%22synonym%22:false,%22contentTypes%22:%5B%22CODES%22%5D,%22productIds%22:%5B%5D%7D&nodeId=PTIICOOR_APXACOLADERE_ARTVIIIHIHIINDI_S801PUIN