Desite downward national sales trend, 2 dollar stores want to build in Moultonborough

MOULTONBOROUGH — Family Dollar, Inc. announced this week that it will close 370 stores and lower prices on 1,000 items to counter shrinking sales and flagging earnings while its major competitor, Dollar General, disappointed Wall Street last month when growth of sales and profits fell shy of projections.

Nevertheless, both corporations are seeking to open stores in this town within three miles of one another. Jonathan White, who recently developed a Family Dollar store in Bristol, submitted a proposal to the Planning Board last year to build an 8,000-square-foot store on a 10.7-acre commercial lot at 278 Whittier Highway (NH Route 25), near the junction with Redding Lane.

Meanwhile, in March, Zaremba Program Development, LLC, the development partner of Dollar General, requested a variance from the Zoning Board of Adjustment to construct a 9,100-square-foot building on a 5.5-acre lot at 929 Whittier Highway, opposite Blake Road.

For Tara Shaw, who has mounted a petition against both projects on her Facebook page, one "dollar store" in Moultonborough is one too many.

Town Planner Bruce Woodruff said that Family Dollar operates both corporate and franchise stores and that he understands the Moultonborough store would be owned and operated by a franchisee. The Dollar General store would be owned and operated by the corporation.

Since last August, the Planning Board has held four hearings on White's proposal for a Family Dollar store, most recently in February when the matter was continued for a fourth time until no later than August 27 — for want of a complete site plan.. By then the board requires approvals of a driveway permit and off-site improvements by the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (DOT), a stormwater management report and completion of a peer review by the town engineer. Both White and the board have been frustrated by the failure of his engineer to submit a complete set of plans in a timely manner.

Woodruff said that apart from the lack of appropriate plans, stormwater management and traffic control are the major issues raised by the project. Last October Jane Fairchild, president of the Lake Kanasatka Watershed Association, told the board that 93 percent of the members were opposed to the project, which they believed threatened the water quality of the lake. To address westbound traffic on NH Route 25 turning left into the site DOT agreed that a bypass lane offered the best solution. The Planning Board asked that the width of the driveway be sufficient for both left and right turn lanes and DOT requires a connection to the abutting property to alleviate congestion.

Carl Johnson, representing White, said that he expected the documentation and information the board requires would be provided before the August deadline, perhaps in time for a public hearing in May or June.

Meanwhile, Zaremba is seeking variances from the requirements that the rate and volume of stormwater run-off after development not exceed prior levels for a 50 year storm event and that the groundwater recharge Volume not be diminished by development. Erin Lambert of Nobis Engineering explained that detention ponds would be constructed to capture stormwater, but the high groundwater table and poorly drained soils would slow infiltration. The rate of run-off will be the same or less, she continued, but the volume will be greater because it is being collected and disbursed over a longer period of time.

With more than 11,000 stores in 40 states, Dollar General is the largest chain of "dollar stores" in the country while Family Dollar operates some 8,100 stores in 46 states.