A group of Rock Hall citizens are in a bitter fight against a new Dollar General Store in town that they say is quickly killing the town’s only locally owned grocery store — a fear many residents envisioned a year ago when plans for the corporate chain store were first announced.
At Thursday’s council meeting a group of residents, along with an attorney for the locally owned Bayside Foods, said the new Dollar General was operating as a “grocery store” by allocating over 60 percent of its floor space to food sales – in clear violation of its permitted use as a “variety store.”
Opponents of the Dollar General say allowing it to operate as a grocery store is in clear violation of its use and occupancy permit and contradicts earlier claims by the developer that the 9,200-square-foot building would only allocate 1,399 square-feet to grocery items, which was a factor the planning commission “relied on” in their decision to approve the store, said Anne Ogletree, the attorney representing Bayside Foods.
At the final approval hearing on Feb. 13, Dan Saunders, a local attorney representing Dollar General’s developer, Howard H. Crossan of Oxford Chase Retail, said the store would operate as a “variety store” and would only designate 13 percent of its floor space to grocery items.
Ogletree said the planning commission would never have approved the Dollar General as a “grocery store” because the developer could not provide the required 92 parking spaces, one parking space for 100 every square feet of floor area. She said the lot was less than one acre and unable to accommodate anywhere close to 92 parking spaces.
Under the variety store classification, Crossan was required to provide 46 parking spaces — but the planning commission granted a waiver to require only 38 spaces because of the small lot.
Ogletree believes the developer’s claim of limiting food inventory to 13 percent was a ploy to win final site approval for the store at the Feb. 13 meeting.
Ogletree insists that the planning commission and the Kent County Planning and Zoning Department are obligated to enforce the 13 percent floor limit on food items — having “relied” on the developer’s statements at the Feb. 13 meeting,
“[The developer] stressed that the parking was for a variety store,” Ogletree told the council. “They said in their testimony that the store was to have 13 to 14 percent [groceries] and that’s a limitation they placed on themselves. That’s what the planning commission heard, and that’s what it approved, not 60 percent, not 70 percent, not what it has got now.”
Councilman Brian Nesspor voiced agreement with Ogletree’s interpretations of the transcripts from the Feb. 13 meeting. He believes that Dollar General’s designation as a “variety store” guarded against any negative financial impact to Bayside Foods.
Nesspor asked Kent County Planning and Zoning Director Amy Moredock and Rock Hall Planning Commission Attorney Mitchell Mowell, if there was any enforcement mechanisms available to hold Dollar General to the limit on food sales.
“There are no conditions on final approval,” Mowell responded. “The site plan was approved and the permit was issued.”
Mowell said guarding against any conflicts between Bayside and Dollar General wasn’t a factor considered by the planning commission.
“That was not a condition placed on the approval,” Mowell said. “That was not something that the planning commission made a finding that that was going to be the case.”
Ogletree claimed that Moredock assured Carroll and other citizens after the Feb. 13 meeting that her office could enforce the limitation on food sales.
Mowell told the Spy after the council meeting Thursday that Moredock misspoke and that statements made by Saunders at the Feb. 13 meeting were non-binding.
“Those [statements] were arguments not legal testimony,” Mowell said.
He also said in the open meeting that there were “no limitations” put on the final approval.
Moredock told the Spy on Friday that Mowell informed her last month that she could not enforce the percentage limits on food sales.
“It’s true, I misspoke,” Moredock said.
But Moredock said in the interview that the issues of parking, the “categorization as a variety store,” and the percentage of food sales were binding at the preliminary site approval in November of 2012 — and could not be revised or revisited at the Feb. 13 meeting.
“Those decisions were legally made at preliminary site approval,” Moredock said. “They were not on the table to be revisited at the final site plan review. When the planning commission granted preliminary approval…it was a legally binding approval.”
Crossan said at the November 2012 meeting that food would account for no more than 25 percent of the floor space.
So when asked if Dollar General was out of compliance with the 25 percent food cap established at the November 2012 meeting, Moredock said she was unaware of any violations.
“I don’t know what they’re doing,” Moredock said in the interview. “I have not inspected the site.”
Ogletree disagrees with Moredock and Mowell on whether Saunders statements at the Feb. 13 meeting were legally binding.
“They are in fact legally binding,” Ogletree said in a brief phone interview with the Spy on Friday. “In that hearing, Dan Saunders represented Dollar General and the representations he made were on the record as an officer of the court.”
The Dollar General’s very existence in Rock Hall is currently under challenge in the Maryland Court of Special Appeals. But until a decision is made, Ogletree and the group of concerned residents are asking the Rock Hall Planning Commission, Kent County Planning and Zoning, and/or the Rock Hall Town Council to enforce the “variety store” designation, and the food sales cap, which she believes was made law at the Feb. 13 meeting.
Ogletree is challenging the decision to allow a Dollar General in Rock Hall altogether. She believes the Rock Hall Planning Commission ignored one of the mandates in Rock Hall’s comprehensive plan to consider the financial impact on local businesses in approving commercial development.
Video: Ogletree and Nesspor spar with Mowell over the Dollar General’s classification as a “variety store.”
Dollar General selling milk at below cost, undercutting Bayside foods
Jeff Carroll, owner of Bayside Foods, told the Spy that Dollar General has been selling milk at $2.65 per gallon — 75 cents below the wholesale price. When Carroll approached the milk distributor, which supplies both stores, he was told that Dollar General was paying $3.38 for the same gallon of milk that Bayside currently pays $3.58.
“They’re just trying to steal that market by paying considerable less than the wholesale price,” Carroll said. “And the only purpose in that is to drive me out.”
Carroll says his sales overall have plummeted 20 percent since the Dollar General opened in late October — and he’s been forced to make recent staff cuts.
Carroll’s full service grocery store has been the largest private employer in Rock Hall since it opened its doors 11 years ago and offers a living wage and health and retirement plans to its employees.
Many homebound residents also rely on Bayside Foods for home delivery of food and prescription medicine – a service the Carroll family provides free of charge.
Dollar General relies on a part-time workforce and offers no benefits.
Related stories:
Rock Hall Dollar General Proposal Headed to Kent County Circuit Court
Analysis: Growing US Opposition to Dollar Stores Playing Out in Rock Hall, Three Generations of Grocers at Risk
Denise Tontarski says
Editor,
I think that Kent County is in very sad shape as far as grocery stores are concerned. I don’t live in Rock Hall, but do enjoy visiting, boating and enjoying the people and culture of Rock Hall as well as the entertainment, recreation and festivities the town has to offer. I think I’m going to start shopping at Bayside and encourage those who are able, who don’t live in Rock Hall, to shop there. Take a ride to Bayside Market, do your shopping, take a ride to the Harbor to see the workboats that are so glorious to see coming in after a day of work. Go to the beach to see the incredible sunsets and be thankful for this wonderful town, it’s merchants and it’s residents.
gerry maynes says
Editor,
Chestertown is down to one supermarket and Rock Hall may be down to none very soon. Bayside makes its money on meat, produce, and dairy as well as beer sales. However any supermarket has most of its dollars tied up in its grocery department, where (products) turn very slowly compared to the other departments, which turn every five days or so. To lose 20 percent of your sales will kill this store. Rock Hall will be left with and empty buildings and a long ride to Chestertown for groceries.
Mark Einstein says
Editor,
Ms. Ogletree presents a valid argument here. Although she struggles between the words,”lying” and “exaggeration”,What DG and FD are actually doing is what they do best – MANIPULATION – and in doing so, they make asses out of the planning and zoning boards who have been sworn to uphold the ordinances that guide their decisions.