KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – For the second time in a week, a local community held a meeting to discuss pros and cons of plans for a Dollar General store.
On Monday, the Kelseyville Business Association hosted an hourlong meeting on a proposal to locate one of the “small box” Dollar General stores at 4315 Douglas St. and 5505 Main St., directly across from Kelseyville High School.
The store is proposed to be 9,100 square feet in size. The corporation estimates it will be staffed by at least four employees. Company representatives have stated that about half of store employees are full-time.
Dollar General, based in Goodlettsville, Tenn., also has a proposal for a store at 20900 S. Highway 29 in Middletown, which was the topic of a Middletown Area Town Hall meeting last Thursday, as Lake County News has reported: bit.ly/1F2sHOL .
Store representatives reported at the Thursday Middletown meeting that Dollar General has 12,000 stores nationwide. It is now working its way into the West Coast market, with plans to open 1,000 stores in California over the next three years.
Earlier this year, the corporation opened its first stores in Lake County – in Nice in January and in Clearlake Oaks in April.
The Kelseyville store's major use permit application, submitted by Texas-based Cross Development on Dollar General's behalf, is scheduled to be heard by the Lake County Planning Commission at 9:45 a.m. Thursday, May 28, in the supervisors chambers at the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
Community Development Director Rick Coel – who was on hand to answer questions Monday evening – said a Dollar General representative will be at the planning commission meeting.
Rian Sommerfield, a Kelseyville Business Association member, moderated the Monday meeting, with Marilyn Holdenried taking down comments in order to present them to the planning commission.
The first community member to speak, retiree John Helldorfer, supported Dollar General coming to town.
“I would like another venue here in Kelseyville,” he said. “I think it's a great addition.”
Helldorfer said community members don't need to worry about businesses being shut down, adding that no businesses have shuttered in Nice following the Dollar General's opening there.
However, Peggy Robertson said Dollar General sells things that she said she already can find in Kelseyville. She said she was concerned about the existing Kelseyville businesses and had spoken to some of them that afternoon.
She said that she's all in favor of small businesses and local businesses, but quoted figures that local businesses put 30 percent more money into communities than chain stores.
At the forum, community members consistently raised issues about Dollar General not fitting the image of the quaint country town that has been created for Kelseyville.
Sommerfield asked Coel if the issue of Dollar General being good for the community is part of the consideration.
Coel explained the county's planning processes, and consideration of environmental and other impacts.
He said that type of community identity issue is probably more appropriately addressed to the Board of Supervisors if the store permit were to be appealed.
Another issue raised related to roads, with Sharron Zoller asking if a traffic study had been done for the “very congested area” near the store location.
Coel said the project was reviewed by the county Public Works Department and traffic advisory committee, which recommended pedestrian improvements such as curb, gutter and sidewalk along both street frontages and a Lake Transit bus stop area. There already is a crosswalk from the high school to the gas station next door.
Citing concerns about bringing in more cars and delivery trucks – while dealing at the same time with traffic for local schools – Zoller asked if there would be additional mitigations such as roadway widening or the Highway 29 and Main Street entrance.
Coel said there were no requirements met for highway improvements. He said Dollar General has overdesigned on its driveway width and parking – proposing eight to 10 more parking spots than needed.
He said the county wants to soften the building's look by having one less row of parking and having the building closer to Main Street, with more landscaping and architectural features. He said he and his staff are working with Cross Development to redesign the site plan.
Town resident Jan Coppinger said there is no other place to shop in Kelseyville, adding she's not going to the local gas station convenience store for her main supplies.
She said she already does her main shopping in Lakeport and Clearlake, and while she's there she spends money on other things.
“I really would like to spend my money where I live, but I'm too busy,” she said.
Caryn Stardancer, who has lived in Kelseyville for more than 42 years, said she and her family opposed the store coming to Kelseyville for a variety of reasons – traffic, the close proximity to the school and the impact on other businesses.
“This town has a character of a country town with nice small stores, very friendly, very warm. That's why I love it here,” she said.
Wally Holbrook, the county's retired superintendent of schools, said he was concerned about pedestrian traffic in relation to the high school, and how shoppers are going to get in and out of the store.
Mark Borghesani, whose family owns Kelseyville Lumber, attended the Thursday MATH meeting, and reported statements from store representatives about often bringing more than one of the stores into a community.
He asked where the planning commission would draw the line if Dollar General proposed to bring still more stores to Lake County, and what the ultimate number might be.
Along with that, Sommerfield asked if the Kelseyville Dollar General plan allows for expansion within the existing site.
Coel said number limits for stores would be up to the Board of Supervisors. As for the proposed store site in Kelseyville, it's following the Dollar General formula for size.
“They would not be able to expand this. There is not enough room there,” Coel said, unless they chose to purchase more property.
He added that he hasn't heard that Dollar General's plan has included expanding current store sites.
Coel was asked about when delivery trucks would come into the store, if they would interfere with the school buses and how it would impact traffic congestion on the road, which residents said already is narrow.
The traffic conflict issue had been raised at a preapplication meeting last year, Coel said. As such, staff will ask the planning condition to put a condition in the use permit that provides a window of when truck can come in to deliver, which they don't want to be during peak traffic flow hours.
Since Dollar General conducts its own deliveries, they have more control over when deliveries take place, said Coel. He also said he believes that the four stores – the two already open and the two still proposed to be built – in Lake County is the “magic number” for Dollar General, as they can have a delivery truck come up weekly and hit all four stores.
Mary Borjon validated Borghesani's concerns about multiple stores, and cited information shared by Robertson in which Dollar General claims it builds stores 10 miles apart.
Borjon said she and her husband take road trips, and during visits to the South they have seen Dollar General stores just blocks apart. “Can we believe the information they give us or not?” she asked.
Asked about the building design, Coel once again noted that the county is trying to get the building's design altered, and are asking the planning commission to provide design input.
He said they want to force design modifications including removing a line of parking, as they don't want so much asphalt, which creates drainage and pedestrian issues. He said there are a lot of issues to work out if the project is approved.
Business owner Trena Pauly voiced her concerns about the store's impact on the community.
“There's a lot of people in this room who have been working years – I mean decades – for Kelseyville to be the quaint country town that it is and the envy of all of Lake County,” she said, and the store doesn't fit into the plan the community has created.
She said it's disheartening to see a box store like Dollar General trying to come into Kelseyville. “Please let us have some kind of input on the design of it so it at least fits into the town.”
Coel said that community input is part of the design process. He added that county staff is against Dollar General having a freestanding sign, and is working to limit signage to just the main sign on the store building itself.
He emphasized that his staff's authority doesn't include denying projects, but they can affect how the project looks.
Coel encouraged the community to provide design input and also to tell the commission if they don't want the store at all.
When asked about the store's potential benefits for the community, Coel said the Clearlake Oaks and Nice stores are doing better than the developers expected, he's receive no complaints from the community and the stores are, in his opinion, providing a service.
Quincy Andrus said she also didn't see the store fitting into Kelseyville or offering much of a financial benefit, as most of the money would be going out of state.
“I don't see any benefit other than a convenience for some people,” she said.
Asked about who Kelseyville's planning commissioner is, Coel said it's Gil Schoux, adding that decisions like those around the Dollar General application are tough ones for the commission to make.
He encouraged community members to attend the planning commission meeting or to at least write letters or emails voicing their concerns about the project.
Coel said letters about the project should be sent to the Community Development Department, Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport, 95453, or emailed to the planner processing the application at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.