If Dollar General is going to build a store in Henniker, it ought to have a pitched roof, vinyl siding and “some sort of New England color.”
Those are some of the points the planning board will relay to the corporate chain of variety stores in response to a site plan application.
“Aesthetics are a big deal,” said Selectman Ben Fortner, a member of the planning board. Based on the response he has heard since Dollar General presented its plan at an April 13 meeting, Fortner said how the building will look seems to be a top concern.
“That’s one thing we have good control of,” said planning board Chairman Ron Taylor.
During the meeting, which about 15 members of the public attended but were not recognized to speak, members of the board expressed a desire for the store to try to blend in with the buildings around it on Route 114 near the Henniker Farm and Country Store.
But for some residents, many of whom attended wearing bumblebee-yellow T-shirts that proclaimed their opposition to the store, putting a pitched roof on top of a 9,100 square-foot building won’t make it any better.
“They’re not going to make them build a log cabin,” said Chris Bremer, an abutter to the proposed site who has led a local effort to keep Dollar General from building in town.
Bremer said he expects the planning board to put pressure on Dollar General to meet its expectations.
“I think the planning board could be more diligent on things like a noise study, light pollution,” he said.
But for Bremer and other local residents who have expressed opposition through signing a petition against the store or posting signs in their yards, the store doesn’t reflect what they consider to be the town’s character.
“Does the only Henniker on earth, a town without a stoplight, need a Dollar General?” he said. “I don’t think so.”
Henniker Planner Mark Fougere said he sent Dollar General the design plans for the Dunkin’ Donuts on Route 202 and the Alltown gas station, which will soon begin construction. He said those stores worked closely with the planning board on aesthetics and wanted to give Dollar General an idea of what to expect.
Dunkin’ Donuts has a pitched and shingled roof with vinyl siding, giving it a look similar to a home. The planning board would like to see Dollar General take the same approach, and the business has in other places. Fougere shared photos of other Dollar General locations in New Hampshire and Maine that have what one board member described as a “New England look.”
“There are a lot of things you can do to improve that are not expensive,” Fougere said.
The company filed its complete site plan application Wednesday afternoon, leaving the board just hours to review it before the meeting. But the feedback developed in the meeting was based on the initial public hearing in April where residents were free to critique the preliminary plans Dollar General had submitted.
Planning board member Scott Dias suggested the board ask Dollar General for an economic impact study – how the store will affect nearby property values as well as the potential tax revenue it could generate.
“There seems to be some net gain,” Dias said. “But there could also be depleting property value.”
The company will also complete a traffic analysis to be submitted to the Department of Transportation for approval because Route 114 is a state highway. The store will also have exterior lights on 24 hours a day, and members of the board agreed the power of those lights should be examined with abutting properties in mind.
Plans filed by the company so far have stayed within the town’s zoning regulations. One issue came up a couple of weeks ago that some thought would undercut the store’s plans. The store’s plot is within 1,000 feet of land for Cogswell Spring Waterworks, the town’s water source. Zoning regulations do not allow commercial buildings within this radius, but it was determined that while the land may be within 1,000 feet, the building will not be.
Another public hearing on the plan will be held June 8 at 7 p.m. at the Henniker Community Center.
(Nick Stoico can be reached at 369-3309, nstoico@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @NickStoico.)