Dollar General says it is within weeks of deciding whether to go forward with a hotly contested proposed store ten miles south of Berkeley Springs, West Virginia.
“We are still in our due diligence phase on the location,” said Dollar General spokesperson Crystal Ghassemi. “I hope to have a final decision here in the coming weeks.”
It’s been more than two weeks since the West Virginia Supreme Court rejected a challenge from neighboring homeowners.
And Dollar General has yet to begin the process of closing on the property or pay for the building permit from the Morgan County Planning Commission.
Citizens in the surrounding neighborhood have been protesting in Morgan County and directly to Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos for more than a year, making the case that the rural residential neighborhood across from one of the West Virginia’s premiere state parks – Cacapon State Park – is the wrong place for a dollar store.
And residents are planning further protests if the company decides to move forward.
“The Supreme Court of West Virginia has spoken and determined that construction the new Dollar General store in the Oakland Overlook neighborhood was properly approved by the Planning Commission,” said Paul Stern, a spokesperson for the group challenging Dollar General. “Nevertheless, there remains an opportunity for Dollar General to garner the goodwill of all Morgan County residents – and shoppers – by working with us to find a location that would better respect the rural nature of our community. I believe that if Dollar General takes this more conciliatory course it will be welcomed as a neighbor and rewarded with increased sales.”