Some Plum residents opposed to potential addition of new Dollar General

PLUM BOROUGH, Pa. — A developer is looking into building a third Dollar General in Plum, and the family who lives next door to the lot is taking action to try to prevent this from happening in their quiet community.

“Why here?” asked Lee Downey.

Downey and his wife moved to Saltsburg Road in Plum about a year ago. Shortly after they moved in, they started hearing about a potential new neighbor.

“It’s not the time or place for that here,” said Downey.

To express their frustrations with this, they started a petition opposing the construction of another Dollar General in the borough. There’s a Dollar General on Unity Center Road and one on Route 286. Both are about three miles away from the lot where a developer wants to put a nearly 11,000 square foot store.

“It can get downright dangerous sometimes trying to pull out of here,” said Downey. “Low visibility conditions. It will pose an issue for fire trucks and ambulances trying to use Clements Road. Traffic issues. I think it’ll cause a negative impact on our quality of life. All the lights and noise and trash blowing over. Literally right next door to our bedroom window.”

Plum Borough Manager Michael Thomas said the developer is still in the pre-application phase, and this is all very preliminary.

“So it’s far from a done deal, but it’s definitely something we have to work against,” said Downey.

A Zoning meeting was recently rescheduled to Feb. 8, 2023. The developer is asking for a variance of 19 parking spaces for the proposed store. An ordinance currently requires 54 off-street parking spaces, which would not fit on the size of the lot with the proposed size of the store. At this time, the developer has not submitted a formal application.

STATEMENT FROM DOLLAR GENERAL CORPORATION PUBLIC RELATIONS:

Thank you for taking the time to contact Dollar General regarding our proposed store in Plum, PA. Please note that we are currently in a due diligence phase for new store in Allegeny County, which means we’re interested in adding a new location to serve Plum residents but have not committed to doing so quite yet. Based on our current timeline, we anticipate a final decision to be made on this project as early as spring 2023.

At Dollar General, we strive to be a positive business partner and good community neighbor. We believe the addition of each new Dollar General store represents positive economic growth for the communities we proudly serve through the creation of local jobs and opportunities for employee development and career advancement, as well as through grants provided through the Dollar General Literacy Foundation that positively impact literacy and education initiatives at schools, non-profits and libraries.

Our customers are at the center of all that we do, and meeting customers’ needs is Dollar General’s top priority when choosing store locations. In selecting store sites, we take a number of factors into consideration, carefully evaluating each potential new store location to ensure we can continue to meet our customers’ price, value and selection needs. We further strive to provide convenience for customers who may not have affordable nearby retail options.

We also give our customers more than everyday low prices on merchandise as part of our mission of Serving Others. We are deeply involved in the communities we serve and are an ardent supporter of literacy and education through the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, which awards grants each year to nonprofit organizations, schools and libraries within a 15-mile radius of a Dollar General store or distribution center to support adult, family, summer and youth literacy programs. Since its inception in 1993, the DGLF has awarded more than $219 million in grants to nonprofit organizations, helping more than 16.1 million individuals take their first steps toward literacy or continued education. For more information about the Dollar General Literacy Foundation and its grant programs, visit www.dgliteracy.com.

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