MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – As the Board of Supervisors prepares to hear an appeal of the county planning commission's denial of a plan to build a Dollar General store in Middletown, the Middletown Area Town Hall has once again voted against the proposal.
The issue of the Dollar General store, proposed to be built at 20900 State Highway 29, has been a recurring matter of discussion for MATH since last year, when the store was first proposed. MATH's membership previously voted against it.
Plano, Texas-based Cross Development has proposed to build the 9,100-square-foot store. The firm constructs build-to-suit stores for Dollar General, a small box retailer based in Goodlettsville, Tenn., which over the last several years has made a big push into the California market.
Early in 2015 two Dollar General stores opened in Lake County – in Clearlake Oaks and Nice.
Cross Development also applied to build a store across from Kelseyville High School, which the Lake County Planning Commission turned down in May 2015, citing concerns about traffic and the fit with the community's planning guidelines. Cross Development appealed that decision to the Board of Supervisors, which upheld the commission's decision in August 2015.
Earlier this year, Cross Development applied for another location in Kelseyville, this time in the Clear Lake Riviera. That plan has not yet come up before the commission.
Then, this past April, the commission unanimously voted down Cross Development's plans for the Middletown store, again pointing to a lack of fit with the area plan and impact on local businesses.
Cross Development once again appealed, and that appeal is set to be heard by the Board of Supervisors at 10 a.m. Tuesday, July 19, in the board chambers at the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport. The meeting also will be streamed lives at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Boards/Board_of_Supervisors/calendar.htm .
Since the store was first proposed last year, community members have voiced their concerns about adherence to planning rules but have also gone farther – into the territory of wanting to have more of a say in what businesses can locate in the town, a desire not technically a part of the current approval process.
Complicating the matter is rising concerns about the potential impacts on Middletown businesses already struggling in the wake of the Valley fire. It was reported at the MATH meeting that two local businesses recently shuttered.
MATH Chair Fletcher Thornton said the issue at hand on Thursday was whether the group was going to give its blessing to a building to house Dollar General or not.
He and Vice Chair Claude Brown have encouraged the group to focus on planning-related issues when arguing against the plan.
“Here's the hardcore reality,” said Brown, explaining that if the property is zoned a certain way – in this instance, commercial – and someone proposes a project within the realm of its zoning and is denied without a good reason, it creates an opening for legal action if another similar project were to be allowed.
Joe Sullivan, the Middletown area's representative on the Lake County Planning Commission, added that it also opens up the possibility of litigation to deny a project without good reasons.
“You can't say no just because you don't like this, because that's not how it works. Everybody has a fair chance to do what they want to do,” Sullivan said.
During the discussion, community member Fairlight Ahlgren said she wanted to change the Middletown Area Plan to give priority to businesses with a local focus,
“We do not want Dollar General or its type,” she said, calling the company a “parasite.”
Another woman in the audience questioned the animosity toward Dollar General and said she wasn't against the store. She would be one of three people who later voted in support of Dollar General.
Diane Tegtmeier of Middletown brought up a point she said was made at the April planning commission regarding how corporations like Dollar General have national and international buying power, and so can buy in volume.
She said that presents an unfair competitive advantage over local businesses, which cannot compete price wise.
“If that is the case and we are already losing businesses, to me the most salient point is, do we want to approve a business in our town that will threaten the viability of all the businesses that are currently operating and struggling like crazy since the fire,” Tegtmeier said.
During the discussion, MATH Board Secretary Margaret Greenley also weighed in on the possibility of Dollar General coming to down.
“Whether it goes ahead or doesn't go ahead, if it goes ahead, we as a community do not have to support that business. We can choose not to shop there,” she said.
She added, “That's not going to drive them out of business, but that's a way we can take a stand against it.”
When Thornton called for the vote, he asked if the group supported the use permit or if they did not.
Ultimately, in the group's vote, 33 people voted against it, 10 abstained and three voted for it.
Community members wanting to voice support or opposition for the store proposal ahead of the Tuesday Board of Supervisors meeting can email board members at the following addresses:
In other matters discussed at the Thursday meeting, MATH formed a subcommittee to work on a plan for creating plaques to recognize people who have donated benches and other improvements to Middletown Square Park, located in front of the community and senior center.
Brown said the county has $4,500 in donations to put toward the recognition effort.
The group also briefly discussed an idea to place gateway arches over Highway 29 at either end of Middletown.
However, members of the Middletown Area Merchants Association who were present and were part of considering the plan said they had no interest or ability to move forward on it.
There would be inherent difficulties in such a plan, which would be both expensive and involved. “It's a major project,” Sullivan pointed out.
Thornton added that Caltrans would have a lot of requirements.
“For the MATH, I'm taking it off the agenda,” until such time as someone comes forward with plans and funding sources, Thornton said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
Middletown Area Town Hall votes to oppose Dollar General store plan
- Elizabeth Larson
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