Par 5 Development Group’s special use permit application for the construction of a Dollar General store at 8277 Patrick Henry Highway (U.S. Route 360) received unanimous approval from the Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors during its January organizational meeting, which included a public hearing on the matter.

No one spoke at the public hearing.

The board meeting packet went into greater detail on the location of the proposed retail establishment, noting it will be on Tax Map Parcels 107- A-30, 107-A-31, 107-A-32 and 107-A-33 owned by Harvie and Rebecca Whitus.

Prince Edward County Planning & Zoning Administrator Rob Fowler shared details about the project prior to the public hearing and the board’s vote, giving some information on Par 5 Development Group and its experience with Dollar General stores.

“They’ve done two in the county already,” he said. “It’s my understanding this store will be very similar to the same construction, the same lighting.”

The summary in the board meeting packet noted that this proposed Dollar General store will be approximately 9,100 square feet, will provide 35 parking spaces and will have illuminated signage. The summary added that this is an allowed use in the A1, Agricultural Conservation District by special use permit.

The store will operate from 8 a.m.-10 p.m., Monday-Sunday, receive one delivery by tractor-trailer once a week during normal operation hours and utilize “night friendly” LED lighting, the packet stated. It continued by citing that the developer is working with Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) staff to address traffic controls, safety concerns and necessary road improvements.

Speaking of the special use permit application, Fowler told supervisors at the board meeting that “a public hearing on this matter was conducted by the planning commission on Dec. 18, 2018. There was some participation from the adjoining property owners at that meeting. Most of the concerns that were raised were regarding lighting buffers, trash and stormwater issues.”

As highlighted in the board meeting packet, the developer agreed to the following: construct a privacy fence along the sides and rear of the property; all lighting will be night-sky friendly and face downward; research if the wall sign could be dimmed after the store is closed; the site will be monitored for trash and litter daily; an approved Erosion and Sediment Control/Stormwater Plan will be submitted and approved by the county; and the site will comply with all landscape regulations.

“I think you remember from the Prospect site, Dollar General has a trash/litter program in place and an 800 number where people can call and complain,” Fowler said. “We haven’t had any complaints from the Rice location for trash, and I’ve been working out there for a few months on that, and the place is usually pretty clean, so I’m not really sure that’s an issue. But they do monitor the property.”

Fowler added, “They will have to have an erosion and sediment stormwater control plan approved by the county, but this time it looks like they’re going to treat about 60 percent or well over 50 percent on-site.”

Buffalo District Supervisor C.R. “Bob” Timmons Jr. interjected and said, “Sixty.”

“Well, they’re working toward 60,” Fowler said.

“Sixty,” Timmons repeated. “It’s going to have to be 60. We aren’t going to go backwards. It’s 60.”

In a Wednesday interview, Timmons explained why he was emphasizing that number.

“That’s the percentage of phosphates that they treat with their sediment pond,” he said. “There’s a couple of things you can do. One, you can treat it all, of course, or you can treat a part of it, you can treat a percentage of it and then buy down with some credits. What they want to do is buy the credits and not treat it, and that puts the phosphates on our water, (puts) the discharge of their ponds onto us, and that’s not fair to the county. So what we’re trying to do is force them to treat the phosphates to a percentage that is acceptable, and then they can buy down the balance.”

Timmons noted how the aims of a developer can sometimes clash with those of a locality.

“When you get above 55 percent, then the treatment requirements or their sediment basin becomes larger, which takes up more real estate, of course, and most developers want to hold it 50 percent or less,” he said. “I want as much of it treated by them — because they’re the one that’s generating it — on-site as we can get.”

Rephrasing his point slightly to further clarify, Timmons said, “Basically what we’re trying to do is instead of allowing that phosphate to migrate off of their property onto someone else’s property, force them to treat the high(est) percentage of it as we can. They’re never going to treat it all — there’s a calculation that can make that determination — but what we want to do is make them treat at 60 percent.”

“That’s generally what we were looking for, is trying to make sure that they treated as much of their own wastewater on-site,” he later added. “We’ve forced it before, and they bought into it, and now, they were trying to go backward or treat less than, which is cheaper for them, but it puts that pollutant on the county, and I don’t think that we should do that. If they’re going to have the business, they need to clean the water — that’s pretty much my philosophy.”

The unanimous vote came with 60 percent as a condition along with all of the conditions of the Prince Edward County Planning Commission.

The board meeting packet stated that the planning commission recommend forwarding the matter to the board for approval with the following conditions: landscape buffer consisting of privacy fencing along the sides and rear of the property lines; monument sign internally illuminated with no changeable copy; brick veneer front with wainscoting trim, similar to the Rice location; VDOT approval; final site plan approval from county staff; and approved Erosion & Sediment Control/Stormwater Plan.