Dollar General hit a snag with their development in Eldred Township.

At the supervisor’s meeting on Wednesday night, Michael Gaul, solicitor for the township, said the store chain requested a modification to the conditional approval of the subdivision granted recently by the supervisors.

“The developer and property owner are in somewhat of a dilemma as to how to move forward on the HOP (highway occupancy permit) application in getting the permit without the other property first being subdivided, because the HOP requires dedication of the right of way,” Gaul said. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation issues the HOP permit.

Kurt Farrelly, a representative for the developer for Dollar General, offered further explanation of the situation.

“We run into this issue with PennDOT District 5. Other districts allow the right of way dedications to be part of the letter of credit; where you can’t get your letter of credit reduced until you have the right of way dedication,” he said. “This particular district requires the right of way dedication on the (HOP) permit. That creates a conundrum, because they also don’t allow the current owner to dedicate the right of way. And they are requiring us to get the right of way, which we can’t do since we don’t have the property, and we can’t buy the property without subdividing.”

The owner of the land plans to sell land to Dollar General for the store, but he also still needs to be able to get to his house. The driveway that goes to his house is also part of the same roadway that will go to the parking lot of the store.

Gaul said Dollar General wanted permission from the supervisors to record the subdivision plan with the county prior to receiving the HOP with the understanding that a note would be added to the plan stating that there cannot be any land development until the HOP is obtained. Gaul said he spoke to the township’s engineer Brien Kocher and he approved of it.

“In essence, what it does is it turns the subdivision at this point basically into a mechanical process. It allows right of way dedication. Otherwise, there can’t be any development on the lots,” Gaul said.

Planning Commission Chairman Robert Boileau said, “Would that be a bad thing? I’m serious. If you’re looking for a ‘t’ that’s not crossed or an ‘i’ that’s not dotted to keep Dollar General out of here, I mean there’s no one in this township that is looking forward to having Dollar General. If this is an opportunity to make them withdraw their application, then I would use it.”

“I think what they want to do is in spirit of the rules that are in place, so I don’t have any issues with it,” Gaul said. “I know there is some dislike of the proposed development, but again if the question is whether they’re building it in accordance with the rules, and that appears to be the case, and if we would take the viewpoint that we’re trying to prevent it, you know, that would be unconstitutional. We have rules, and they follow them. You can’t have a situation for instance in zoning where you say you have no retail stores in the township. You have to allow for this kind of thing.”

The supervisors approved the modification.