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The Tryon Board of Planning and Adjustment required several design changes and suggested adding sidewalks before approving the plan for a new Dollar General store on South Trade Street.
Construction began last week to build a Dollar General store in the existing parking lot of the former Plenty of Fish Restaurant. The parcel, owned by Barbara Britt, is being split for the Dollar General, which is constructing new parking in front of the log cabin restaurant building.
The current parcel is a total of 1.37 acres that will be subdivided into 0.59 acres for the restaurant and 0.78 acres for the Dollar General. The two parcels will have a shared common access easement at the parking lot entrance with the parking lot having 45 standard spaces and four handicapped spaces.
The zoning permit approved on May 18 by the board of planning and zoning included several additions and changes to the design to enhance the visual appearance.
Those additions included awnings in the front, two transparent windows on either side of the entrance, architectural detail to the gable in front and a lower sign. The board also required Dollar General to add landscaping adjacent to five parking spaces between the Dollar General and the restaurant building.
The board of planning and adjustment also approved the permit by asking the developer to consider hardi-board siding to the rear and to consider adding sidewalks along U.S. 176 in front of the building.
During a recent meeting of the Tryon Board of Planning and Adjustment, which approved a zoning permit for the Dollar General, some residents stressed the need for more sidewalks in the area.
Tryon does not currently require developments to construct sidewalks, but a Dollar General official said a sidewalk could be considered, especially in conjunction with the nearby IGA grocery store. Some residents said future developments could also add sidewalks to connect to one in front of the Dollar General.
Officials discussed the fact that the town previously made an agreement with LionHeart Development, to construct sidewalks at the Tryon Pointe subdivision on South Trade Street.
Tryon Pointe, a small, proposed subdivision with an office building along South Trade Street, is now for sale and no sidewalks were constructed. Tryon Town Council has briefly discussed recently what to do about the sidewalk agreement with Lionheart given that no sidewalk was constructed.
Other issues raised during the board of planning and zoning included lighting, dumpster screening and delivery frequency for the new Dollar General. Robbie Wilkins, owner of JR Lex, Inc., the Dollar General development, responded that security lighting would be provided for the building as well as dumpster screening. Deliveries to the store were estimated by Wilkins to be two trucks per week.
The board of planning and adjustments John Walters also asked Wilkins why another Dollar General was needed since two others are in such close proximity of Tryon. There is currently a Dollar General in Columbus, a Family Dollar at the state line in Tryon and a Dollar General being constructed in Saluda.
Wilkins responded the marketing system is very sophisticated. KKR, a large takeover company took over Dollar General when the founding members passed away and through marketing analysis and GIS mapping, they identified a hole in Tryon, he said. They identified that this was a needed service in Tryon and realizing how close they are to other stores, they made the corporate decision to build a store in Tryon, Wilkins said.
Weather permitting, the new Dollar General in Tryon is expected to be completed by Labor Day of this year. The historic log cabin building is still for sale.
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