The Dollar General store planned for ten miles south of Berkeley Springs, West Virginia has been put on hold.
Photo by Bob Peak
“We are still in our due diligence phase for a new location in Berkeley Springs,” said Dollar General’s Crystal Ghassemi in response to a question about the status of the proposed store at the corner of US 522 and Oakland Road in southern Morgan County. “This means we’re interested in adding a new store on Valley Road, but have not committed to doing so yet. Based on the current timeline, I don’t foresee a final decision being made on this store until December 2016.”
The proposed Dollar General store has drawn strong opposition — with more than 400 residents signing a petition opposed to the proposed location — across the street from a church and from Cacapon State Park.
Local resident Paul Stern said the group opposing the Dollar General “was encouraged to hear the news that Dollar General is putting off its decision until December 2016.”
“We hope that Dollar General is reconsidering at least in part because of the strong opposition to this store by the community,” Stern said.
Local residents have also filed a lawsuit against the Morgan County Planning Commission. That case is currently before the West Virginia Supreme Court.
Stern said that the residents are “optimistic that the Supreme Court will rule in our favor.”
Earlier this year, residents petitioned Judge Christopher Wilkes to prevent Dollar General from starting construction at the location before the Supreme Court renders a judgement.
SB DG — calling itself the developer for Dollar General — argued that a stay of construction pending appeal will “substantially disadvantage the developer.”
“Absent intervention, the developer stands to lose the ability to develop and construct a business opportunity — i.e. Dollar General — as well as the time, money and effort already invested in obtaining the opportunity,” the developer wrote to the Judge.
“The developer anticipates that it will incur a minimum of $290,000 in damages, including, but not limited to, changes in obtaining and paying for permits, damages under lease with Dollar General, expenses associated with attending addition planning commission hearings and legal fees.”
Judge Wilkes denied the residents’ petition for a stay based in part on the SB DG petition.