County planners approve new Dollar General in downtown Lyndonville

Dollar General’s application for the new store shows this image for the new store in Lyndonville, which is in a historic overlay district on Main Street.

LYNDONVILLE – The Orleans County Planning Board this evening voted in favor of a new Dollar General store in downtown Lyndonville.

The Planning Board recommended the Village of Lyndonville accept the site plan for the project and approve three variances.

The Broadway Group in Huntsville, Alabama is the developer for the project. The company is proposing to demolish the Crosby Whipple building at 30 North Main St. and then build the new 7,600-square-foot store. That size store is the smallest model offered by Dollar General, said Tara Mathias, development manager. Most of the Dollar Generals are more than 9,000 square feet.

The parcel of land doesn’t give enough room for that size store. The developer is seeking a variance on the rear setback. The village code requires a 50-foot setback from the rear and Dollar General is asking for 30.5 feet, with a variance of 19.5 feet needed.

The Orleans County Planning Board supported that variance, as well as one allowing for a 9-foot-high retaining wall by the side of the building facing Johnson Creek. The code calls for a maximum height of 6 feet on a retaining wall. The size of the lot didn’t allow enough room to grade the space for a smaller retaining wall, Mathias said.

The code also calls for vegetative buffer as a visual screen, but that wasn’t possible on the east side of the building where there is a 20-foot easement for a waterline. There will instead be a 6-foot-high stockade-style fence on the rear perimeter of the property.

This aerial Pictometry photo shows the Crosby Whipple building in white, which would be demolished to make room for a new 7,600-square-foot Dollar General next to Johnson Creek.

The new store will replace a building that Mathias said is an “eyesore.” The Planning Board acknowledged the Crosby Whipple building could “age poorly” without proper maintenance.

Mathias said the company designed the new store in a way to fit in on a historic Main Street.

“Our development would beautify the area and it would be compatible with the historic district,” she said.

The store would have 8 to 10 employees and offer convenience for Lyndonville shoppers. Dollar General has another store 3.75 miles away at the corner of routes 63 and 104 in Ridgeway.

The project will go before the Village of Lyndonville Planning Board for a final vote.