MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The proposal to place a Dollar General store in Middletown was the main topic of discussion at Thursday's Middletown Area Town Hall meeting, which saw community members coming out to voice their concerns about the potential impacts on the town's aesthetics, culture and economy.
Several dozen people attended the meeting in the community room at the Middletown Senior Center, asking questions about whether Dollar General would be a good neighbor and donate to the community, raising issue with the products it sells and its impact on existing local businesses, and suggesting that it ultimately would have a negative impact on the town, which is the county's southern gateway.
The Board of Supervisors established MATH in December 2006 to act as a municipal advisory council for south county residents.
MATH Chairman Fletcher Thornton set aside the May 14 meeting solely for the purpose of discussing the application by Texas-based Cross Development – the developer acting on behalf of Dollar General – for the 9,100-square-foot store on a three-acre parcel at 20900 Highway 29.
The store will take up one acre of the site, with the owner – identified in county documents as Ann Neve of Petaluma – retaining the rest of the parcel, company representatives explained.
In addition to the Middletown store, Cross Development – one of the firms representing Dollar General in its projects in California – also has applied for a major use permit for a store in Kelseyville, which the Lake County Planning Commission will consider at its May 28 meeting.
At Thursday's meeting to field questions were project manager Joe Dell of Cross Development and Mark Gilchrease, a Dollar General district manager who currently oversees several stores from Grass Valley west to Lake County, where the two new stores also are under his management.
Dollar General is a 74-year-old “small box” retailer based in Tennessee that has begun a major move into the California and West Coast market.
It has opened two stores so far this year in Clearlake Oaks and Nice, with Cross Development also acting as the developer on those two projects.
Gilchrease noted during the meeting that Dollar General likes to place stores in “underdeveloped” areas,” and has plans to open 1,000 stores over the next three years, which he said “bucks the trend” of economic development in California. The company also is beginning to move up the West Coast, and has opened its first two stores in Oregon.
He told Lake County News after the meeting that Dollar General's new stores in Lake County have exceeded performance expectations.
Gilchrease said the corporation is seeking to open 300 new stores in California this year alone. Dell said that equates to about 1,600 new jobs.
Asked if there are more Lake County stores in the future – in addition to the two already open and the other two in the planning process – Dell said he couldn't say.
Gilchrease, however, said the list of locations the company is looking at for the remainder of this year doesn't include any other new locations in Lake County, outside of those for which the company already has applied.
Explaining the process
During the two-hour meeting, Thornton admonished community members to have a discussion, “not an argument,” over the store proposal.
The Middletown store major use permit application isn't yet scheduled to go before the planning commission, as it's still being processed, according to Community Development Director Rick Coel, who also was on hand Thursday to answer questions and explain the county's planning process.
Coel explained that he and his planning staff are still about halfway through processing the Dollar General Middletown application. In order to complete the project's evaluation and environmental analysis, Coel said there are still pieces to fill in, including site planning and input from Caltrans, and an analysis of soil needed for fill.
“I just want to be real clear, right off the bat, we're not set for hearing yet,” he said, regarding the planning commission.
He said he believed that the project likely would be recommended for a mitigated negative declaration, with numerous conditions required related to aesthetics.
Among the initial questions put to Dollar General's representatives related to the stores' close proximity to schools – which Dell and Gilchrease said not intentional – and the potential for Dollar General to pull out of a store.
Dell said Cross Development purchases properties, develops them and then leases them to Dollar General. In his experience, he said Dollar General hasn't left leases.
When asked about Dollar General's impact on small towns, Gilchrease said that the company is ranked 175 on the Forbes 500 list and has more than 12,000 stores nationwide. He said Dollar General has never closed a store, although there have been instances where the stores have been moved.
Gilchrease maintained that Dollar General is “a magnet to bring people into the area,” creating competition and spurring economic growth.
They also were asked about how many of their projects are made in the United States versus China. Gilchrease said the company tries to find the best items it can, and said that the majority of items Dollar General sells are American-made.
Regarding why Dollar General selected Middletown, Gilchrease said the company has a process of selecting its communities.
Community selection is based on a number of factors that Dollar General uses to determine areas where economic development is moving, he said.
Of the 12,000 items sold in Dollar General stores, roughly 2,000 to 3,000 are about a dollar in price, Gilchrease said. “Basically, we're a general store is what we are.”
The name Dollar General, he acknowledged, is commonly confused with the Dollar Tree – known more commonly as the “Dollar Store” – in California, Gilchrease said.
Community member Craig Eve asked if the corporation is involved in communities, and if they donate to local events.
Gilchrease said much of Dollar General's community giving is done through its home office, but he said if store managers come to him, they will do something, noting that they want to support the community.
During the discussion a man asked about a vote that had been taken by MATH against Dollar General coming into the community.
Thornton explained that MATH representatives had taken a straw vote at a previous meeting about the store proposal, and they subsequently attended a preapplication meeting on the project.
“I voiced the opinion of MATH at that time,” said Thornton, noting that that time that they had no application or drawings to go off of.
The group voiced its opinion, “But that doesn't commit us to anything,” said Thornton.
Linda Diehl-Darms followed up by asking if the community's voice has weight in determining if the project moves forward.
Coel pointed out that MATH is an advisory body to the Board of Supervisors. He said the county has processes in place. “The county is legally obligated to process this use permit.” Once it's processed, a public meeting notice will be issued.
He said he believes the board takes into consideration the opinion and viewpoint of all advisory committees, but added, “This has to run its course.”
Thornton added that when the matter goes before the Board of Supervisors, community members can go and express their opinion. “We can't stop anything. We can voice our opinion and give our input.”
More questions and concerns
Gilchrease said Dollar General stores tend to look different, with the corporation working with communities to get designs that fit with towns.
He said stores average between 10 to 12 employees, about half of them part-time, later clarifying that the number of part-time workers is 40 to 45 percent and depends on sales.
Starting wages are $9 an hour, with medical, dental, vision, stock purchase options and discounts at universities offered for full-time employees, he said.
The company also offers a literacy program, he said, because the company's founder Cal Turner was illiterate and became dedicated to addressing the issue.
Gilchrease said the company offers grants to schools, citing a recent grant of $40,000 to Riverside High School for new computers.
Business owner Tina Stewart raised her concerns about Dollar General, asserting that allowing the corporation to set up in Middletown essentially asks the community to support an out-of-area business. She said she was concerned about Middletown becoming a ghost town as a result.
Dell responded to questions about the property selection process. He said said Cross Development pursues every available piece of property that is for sale in areas targeted for stores. They then assess the location's viability, but he added, “It boils down to availability of the property.”
Monica Rosenthal asked if they had assessed other sites besides the one selected.
Dell explained that brokers and drivers will drive an area and look at good potential locations, pursuing all of them before settling on the one that fits best. He said they did pursue other sites in Middletown.
Resident Charles Morse said he didn't have an issue with the site, but questioned potential impacts on nearby St. Helena Creek, where there is a large annual trout run. He asked if that was being addressed.
Dell said the project's environmental report will look at potential impacts. “So, yes, we've looked at that,” he said, noting that the store site is on the farthest edge away from the creek.
State stormwater guidelines require them to retain almost all of their runoff, so Dell said there will be basically a “net zero discharge” due to retention basins on site.
Thornton questioned the project's layout, explaining that the site map showed the building at the back of the property, fronted by a parking lot.
He said the Middletown Area Plan wants new businesses to fill in with what already is there, and asked if the developers would be willing to consider a design change. Thornton said he would rather see the building be at the front of the property to be more in keeping with the town's look.
Dell said they are trying to reduce the parking, but he can't alter the layout of the store itself. Given the site's depth, the best store location is set back off the highway, he said, explaining that the delivery doors have to stay where they are located in the floor plan.
There also is the matter of the delivery trucks being able to get into the site, and a change in location would mean the truck couldn't make the turn into the property, Dell said.
In order to significantly change the layout, Dell said the company would have to purchase more land. “We can do things like landscaping that will soften the look.”
MATH Board member Charlotte Kubiak asked if any communities around the country have protested enough to make Dollar General change its plans to enter a community. Gilchrease said he wasn't aware of that happening.
Kubiak followed up by asking if they would still come in if the community said no, which drew a round of applause.
“Dollar General leaves that, I guess, to the community,” Gilchrease replied.
Diehl-Darms asked Coel if the county has talked to local businesses about the impacts of Dollar General. Coel said he recently talked to a business owner who is located across from the store in Nice who said he has gotten more foot traffic since the Dollar General opened there.
“He said he's not hurting him one bit,” said Coel. “That's the one example I have.”
Otherwise, Coel said he hasn't gone out to survey other local businesses about the stores, adding he looks at Dollar General as providing a service. In Clearlake Oaks and Nice, the stores offer items that largely aren't available otherwise to people who don't have transit options. “There was a need there.”
Coel was careful to explain that, ultimately, whether or not the store is approved is not up to him or his staff, but the planning commission. He said the community can express its concerns to the commission both during the hearing and beforehand. “They have to list to all sides.”
A community member suggested that the commission consider changing its meeting location to Middletown – rather than Lakeport – when it discusses the Middletown store proposal.
Middletown resident Lynne Norton asked if the Board of Supervisors will have the final say if the store is approved by the planning commission.
Coel said the final say would be up to the supervisors if the commission's decision was to be appealed. An appeal would need to be filed within seven days of the decision, and would cost $407, Coel said.
Dell maintained that Dollar General is a “great company,” with its stores offering tax benefits and jobs to communities.
“Our goal is to deliver a great store for a great client for a community that's in desperate need of its products,” which Dell acknowledged was a poor choice of words after it elicited loud murmuring and jeers throughout the room.
Thornton asked Coel for some final comments, at which point he noted that one of the big concerns for the south county has been “commercial leakage,” with very little in the way of commercial development to support the population.
In creating the Middletown Area Plan, the county spent significant time looking at that issue, as well as ways to create more local jobs, Coel said.
“When you look at the tax dollars and where they're going, the sales tax revenues in the south county, most of it leaves the county, it's not spent here. So that has to be factored in when these projects are reviewed and considered, ultimately, by the Board of Supervisors,” Coel said.
At the end of the meeting, Thornton would stop a community member's request for a show of hands for or against the project, noting that at a future MATH meeting there will be a formal vote, the results of which he will take to the Lake County Planning Commission.
The full video of the meeting can be seen above.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
Middletown community members raise concerns about Dollar General store proposal
- Elizabeth Larson
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