PARIS — Members of the town’s Planning Board will review a building plan for a new Family Dollar retail store at its meeting Tuesday.
The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the Town Office.
Developers plan to place an 8,320-square-foot store and a 24-space parking lot on about one-and-a-half acres on Main Street, where Shaner’s Family Restaurant currently stands.
Last week, restaurant owner Jack Shaner said he had negotiated an agreement with Hunt Real Estate, the Florida-based company handling the development, to sell the property.
The restaurant will be torn down and replaced by the retail store. According to the site plan submitted to the Planning Board, construction is expected to begin in May.
In an interview Friday, Planning Board Chairman Russ Case said board members could sign off on the application Tuesday if all the necessary permits and licenses are completed correctly.
The process may be eased somewhat because the development is planned for an existing commercial property, Case said.
“It’s already in a commercial zone, so that takes a lot of the pressure off, versus what we had last time,” Case said.
Last summer, the company submitted plans to build a similar Family Dollar store on a Main Street residential property abutting the McLaughlin Gardens. That plan encountered opposition from some members of the community and the McLaughlin Foundation, the nonprofit that runs the gardens, eventually bought the property that was intended for development.
Case said he didn’t foresee opposition to the new proposal and was not sure if the Planning Board would hold a public hearing about the development.
“If we have some problems in their presentation, I would imagine there would be a public hearing,” he said. “I can’t say until we get there.”
Ultimately, if the company submitted a complete, correct application and there were no legal reasons to block the development, Planning Board members will be required to approve the project, Case said.
“As members of the board, we have to swear to uphold the ordinance of the town of Paris,” Case said.
“If any applicant meets the criteria of that ordinance, whether we like it or not, we have to follow what the ordinance says.”
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