Two years and nine months after submitting its original proposal to build a store in Boscawen, Dollar General appears to have cleared its final hurdle to start construction.
The chain was given the green light Tuesday by a Merrimack County Superior Court judge, after several neighbors to the proposed site of the store at 169 King St., sued the town. Andrew Newcomb and Elaine Clow claimed that the planning and zoning boards action to approve the Dollar General’s site plan in November 2017 was “illegal and unreasonable.”
The neighbors cited conflicts surrounding snow removal, aesthetics, traffic and fire code violations.
But Judge Brian Tucker disagreed with Newcomb and Clow. He said in his decision that the two boards did their due diligence when considering Dollar General’s proposal.
“The record does not support their contention that either board acted in bad faith,” Tucker’s decision read.
When it approved the site plan in November, the planning board created a list of 12 conditions for the company to build a store, including that Dollar General use no truck larger than a WB-50 for deliveries, and they don’t place loudspeakers or display merchandise outside.
The board also addressed concerns about aesthetics when it asked that the store’s fencing be made of a white vinyl material, and that Dollar General’s building and grounds be “maintained consistently in good order.”
There were 10 zoning board meetings and eight planning board meetings over the course of two years to discuss the implementation of the store, Dollar General wrote in March 2018 court documents.
“While Boscawen DG, LLC understands that Ms. Clow and Mr. Newcomb are not enthused about the proposed project, the fact remains that the Project is in compliance with site plan requirements and applicable zoning ordinances, has been thoroughly vetted by both the Boscawen Planning and Zoning boards, and all of the issues complained of by the petitioners in this appeal have been addressed by the Town of Boscawen ad nauseam,” Dollar General wrote.
This was not the first time Newcomb or Clow had sued the town over the proposed Dollar General. The neighbors previously appealed the planning board’s approval of Dollar General’s site plan in May 2017 after they said the public did not have an opportunity to share concerns at a hearing.
The Dollar General store in Boscawen is an estimated $1.2 million construction project, according to a report contracted by Dollar General and completed by Massachusetts consultant RKG Associates.
It would provide an average of 10 jobs and boost other businesses nearby, according to the report. Boscawen’s Dollar General would be the 29th built in New Hampshire in the last five years.
Dollar General plans for 10 transactions an hour between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m., seven days a week. Deliveries, pickups and offsite snow removal would occur during off-peak hours between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.