Dollar General plans halted by Nottawa Township Board

Nottawa Township officials sided with a July planning commission recommendation and opted Monday to not re-zone a parcel of land on which a Dollar General store was hoping to build.

By unanimous vote, Nottawa Township Board of Trustees supported the township planning commission’s July 19 recommendation. As a result, a proposal to develop a 10,000-square-foot Dollar General on the north side of M-86, east of Nottawa Lumber, have come to a halt.

Earlier report:Re-zoning request denied for Dollar General in Nottawa

Re-zoning of the 1.6 acres was being sought by real-estate development company Midwest V of Grand Haven. Midwest V traditionally works in partnership with Dollar General.

The township board’s vote was applauded by more than two dozen people who attended the meeting. Those who addressed the board Monday were opposed to the project for a variety of reasons.

After the meeting, supervisor Dave Peterson provided an explanation that prompted the five-member board to vote the way it did.

“The primary reason is that we have in our master plan a mixed-use corridor that goes down M-86 and also along M-66, but the planning commission has not developed the ordinance, yet, for what kind of retail, what kind of industrial and what kind of manufacturing will be allowed there,” Peterson said. “Until that is in place, which may or may not allow for something like the Dollar General, that is the reason why I concurred with the planning commission’s recommendation.”

Peterson said the fact an ordinance for the mixed-use corridor has not been established is nobody’s fault. Rather, it’s merely a part of the process that has not been addressed yet, he noted.

The township’s master plan was approved in April.

Board clerk Bret Lutz wondered why Dollar General didn’t propose building its store in a dilapidated area in the center of Nottawa. The area he referenced is already zoned commercial, as it features a run-down feed mill and former party store that has been vacant for years.

“That’s already zoned commercial (and) you wouldn’t have to ask for a re-zoning,” he said. “That, to me, is more practical to put a business in.”

Jared Devoursney, representing Midwest V, cited three factors in response to Lutz’s comment.

“It really came down to a number of factors: availability, property size, and when this property was available and we worked through all the details – looking through the master plan and seeing that that area was master planned for future commercial development – we felt comfortable going to the planning commission and the board to present our proposal,” Devoursney said.

Trustee Jim Rigby spoke bluntly about his reservations. First, he said, Dollar General has an abundance of stores already in place near Nottawa. He continued.

“You have four stores already and you guys don’t take care of one of them,” Rigby said. “They’re absolutely disgusting to walk into at times and I don’t understand why you’re taking on more … now you want to build another one. You can’t seem to get employees at the ones that are already here now, (the current stores) look terrible, stuff flies all over the parking lot.”

Devoursney said several other Dollar General stores and their conditions are not a factor of the rezoning request.

Trustee Steve Clark acknowledged the sentiment of those in attendance and Nottawa residents in general.

“Our citizens have obviously made it apparent to us that this is not a suitable area (for such a development) … and they don’t need this particular development,” Clark said before echoing comments Lutz made moments earlier. “There are commercially zoned areas in this mixed-corridor that they can go in … it was obvious (Dollar General’s proposed location) was not a good place for it, or a good fit.”

Tennessee-based Dollar General has a store located fewer than four miles west in Centreville, as well as locations in nearby Sturgis, Colon and Mendon.

A key matter cited last month by the planning commission centered on a conflict with the township’s master plan. Specifically, the township’s master plan calls for a buffer zone in an area featuring mixed-use development. The parcel sought by Dollar General is currently a cornfield and serves as a necessary buffer between Nottawa Lumber to the west and a residential property to the east. Removing that buffer would contradict the township’s master plan, commission members noted.