Dollar GeneralMap
6500 Shallowford Road
A new, 9,000 square-foot Dollar General store proposed in the 6500 block of Shallowford Road is on hold for a month, as whatever action taken by planning commissioners in the store's rezoning request will likely become the precedent for commercial and retail development in the area of the road between Highway 153 and Lee Highway.
The proposed Dollar General property sits about one mile east of Shallowford Road's intersection with Highway 153.
The majority of properties immediately surrounding the proposed dollar store are single-family residential, which led Regional Planning Agency staffers to recommend denying a change to commercial zoning prior to Monday's meeting.
But Melissa Ballard, a representative from Huntsville, Ala.-based developer Broadway Group, spoke to planning commissioners on Monday and said that after meeting with community members - some in staunch opposition to a retailer on the road - compromises were reached between residents of the area and Dollar General.
Ballard said Dollar General was willing to forgo its typical building design and go instead with an all-brick construction at the Shallowford Road site. Dollar General also agreed to place a brick, monument-style sign off the road instead of a larger pole sign.
Residents asked Dollar General to also provide landscaping in front of the new store, and specifically to eschew road-side trees, because they obstruct lines of sight.
Ballard said the Dollar General developer would build a brick retaining wall behind the store, as well as a six-foot privacy fence.
She also said the store would employ eight to 10 full- and part-time employees.
Carol Berz, city councilwoman representing the area, said Monday that this case has been difficult because when Shallowford Road was widened, the expectation was that any non-residential construction would be office space only.
"That was in 2008, and so far, that has not happened," said Berz.
Office developments have not showed interest in the area, but retail developments have been creeping toward the neighborhood, growing ever outward from the Hamilton Place hub.
Specifically, Berz said the recent approval of a gas station and convenience store at Shallowford's intersection with Hickory Valley Road caught other retailers' attention.
"It opened the door for these kinds of commercial developments," she said.
Berz said a series of contentious community meetings have taken place to discuss the idea of Dollar General moving into the neighborhood.
She said one of the meetings was so heated, the host - a church - asked that the meetings take place someplace else.
But after all the discussions and a vote, she said residents voted narrowly for Dollar General.
"The will of the community is divided," said Berz.
She said Dollar General has been willing to compromise and work with residents, which eventually won some people over.
Some in the community know that holding out hope for office developments is probably going to be fruitless, said Berz, so many have come to the conclusion that commercial space is coming to the neighborhood - and if that's so, they want it to be done right.
Berz said residents want to place strict conditions on this project and property to set a strong and clear precedent for all future commercial developments in the neighborhood.
"They wanted to keep the neighborhood environment. They realized that probably wasn't the reality on this side of the road," she said. "That side of the road is going to go some kind of way, and we want it to be the right way."
Ballard also said Dollar General will make sure all exterior lights are downward-facing, cutting spill over onto neighboring properties. She said the store would work to make sure deliveries and trash service come and go at reasonable times for a neighborhood.
"A reasonable time, to me, would be before 10 or 11 o'clock at night," she said. "That's when the stores close."
John Bridger, executive director of the RPA, told planning commissioners that whatever the decision, it will likely set a strong precedent going forward, as the stretch of Shallowford Road in question is likely going to develop despite the lack of office interest.
"This is not just about this property," he said. "This is a tough question for you to wrestle with as a commission. You've got a tough nut to crack."
Ballard presented the conditions agreed upon by Dollar General and Shallowford residents to planning commissioners to be written into a recommendation for approval, if that was the commission's course of action.
A handful of commissioners asked, however, that planning staff be given a month to review the outside-submitted conditions for legal and enforcement verification, so a planning decision is delayed for 30 days.
Contact staff writer Alex Green at agreen@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6480.