A group of citizens has delivered a petition with 419 signatures calling on the Morgan County Planning Commission to encourage developers to consider shifting the proposed new Dollar General store from the corner of US 522 and Oakland Road to the Morgan County Business Park just one mile away.
The petitions were delivered to the Commission staff at the Morgan County Courthouse in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia.
The petitioners say they have serious concerns about the current proposed location, including serious traffic hazards, environmental risks to nearby streams and ponds, reduction of property values and interference with peace and quiet of neighboring property owners.
The group, calling itself Citizens for Responsible Development, said that the current proposed site of the Dollar General — at the corner of US 522 and Oakland Road — “is neither appropriate nor responsible.”
The group called on the Planning Commission to be true to its governing ordinance, which directs the commission to “protect and provide for the public health, safety and general welfare of the citizens of Morgan County and assist orderly and efficient land development.”
“Allowing the construction of a Dollar General at the proposed location will be contrary to these two significant mandates,” the group said in a cover letter to Jack Soronen, president of the Planning Commission.
“The traffic situation at this intersection is extremely hazardous without the addition of a retail establishment. Many who signed the petition use Oakland Road to access their properties and personally know the dangers from the high speed traffic on 522 and the tight turns onto Oakland Road. The Department of Transportation stated that it cannot require a northbound turn lane onto Oakland Road and even if one was possible, it would not mitigate the hazardous conditions as evidenced a quarter of a mile north at the Cacapon State Park/Cacapon South entrances.”
“The land around the location is rural and beautiful. Scattered residential properties and the nearby subdivision homes will experience reductions in values and environmental risks are certain. Rural and beautiful will be marred by a huge Dollar General store sitting well above the highway with bright yellow signage, lighting, traffic, trash dumpsters and the like.”
“Surely there are more appropriate sites for this proposed development in South Morgan County, such as the County’s Business Park just a mile away. This site, fully developed, is specifically designed and built for commercial development and is financially beneficial to the county. The developer, in resubmitting documents, may dot the i’s and cross the t’s, but is clearly not interested in the aesthetics of our area nor the peaceful enjoyment of those who live here.”