Plattsburgh planning board approves Dollar General site plan with conditions

The City of Plattsburgh Planning Board on Feb. 24, 2025 voted to approve a detailed site plan and a Short Environmental Assessment Form (SEAF) Part 2 for a new Dollar General store proposed at 4761 Route 9, adopting the SEAF findings and attaching multiple conditions before final sign-off.

The action clears a returning application (Planning Board application 24-08) for a single-story, roughly 1,600-square-foot Dollar General retail building on a parcel zoned B-2. Planning staff and applicant representatives told the board the project will disturb about 1.34 acres and provides the parking required by the building inspector27s calculation (39 spaces), and staff concluded the SEAF Part 2 indicated no significant adverse environmental impacts.

Board members and staff said the conditions are intended to address public-safety, aesthetic and operational issues raised during the detailed review. Conditions discussed and included in the board27s approval require New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) approval for any work in DOT27s right-of-way, an expanded and screened dumpster enclosure sized to hold the store27s roll-tainers, delivery-time restrictions to limit large-truck deliveries to off-peak hours, and that the enclosure and perimeter screening be wood, stained to match the building. The board also asked that building elevations be added to the final plan set and that the applicant provide additional detail on proposed seed mixes and planting-zone tolerances for landscaping.

Applicant representatives described how the plans were revised since the last meeting. Aaron Jarvis, the project engineer from Tisdale Associates, reviewed design changes including a sidewalk and exterior lighting added at the northwest exit, a revised photometric lighting layout with dark-sky-compliant fixtures, added seed mixes for drainage basins, truck maneuvering notes and a notation that deliveries will occur outside store hours. Jarvis and applicant representative Matthew (Matt) Uglito said they will update the plan details requested by staff and that they can extend the dumpster enclosure by 10 to 15 feet to contain the roll-tainers used to move stock and cardboard.

"We have in the past and we can make that larger to fit the, what they call the roll tainers," Matt Uglito said, offering to lengthen the enclosure and add a secondary access door so employees can avoid leaving the main door open during deliveries.

Planning staff noted several departmental reviews were satisfied or in progress: the building inspector confirmed the parking calculation; the city27s 911 addressing office and the applicant coordinated on the correct street address format (staff recommended the address read 4761 Route 9 on plan sheets); and a SHPO (State Historic Preservation Office) review returned no major findings but recommended a visual-screening condition that the applicant already proposed. Staff recommended that final plan approval be conditioned on receipt of New York State DOT sign-off for any work in DOT jurisdiction.

Board members raised operational concerns about truck deliveries and pedestrian safety on the site. Members described the large delivery trailer as likely to make weekly deliveries and noted smaller box trucks would come more often; to reduce conflict the applicant added a note that the primary tractor-trailer deliveries will occur outside peak pedestrian and vehicle hours. Several members also asked that the bike rack shown as a portable unit be bolted to the ground for permanence; the applicant stated the portable rack has tabs for bolting and agreed to secure it.

Public comment was accepted via previously submitted emails (those comments were entered into the record), and no speakers registered at the meeting itself. The board opened and closed the required public hearing during the meeting before voting on the SEAF and the site plan.

Votes at a glance: the board adopted the SEAF Part 2 findings (Resolution 24-08a) and then approved the site plan with the conditions described above (Resolution 24-08b). Roll-call votes recorded in the meeting transcript show unanimous "yes" votes from the members present (Jim McDonald, Rick Perry, Abby Muserher, Tom [Kostra/Cosgrove], and Carlene Leary).

The board27s approval is conditioned on satisfying remaining staff comments and receiving DOT approval for work within the state right-of-way. Staff said the applicant will revise plan notes (including correcting a general-note reference to another municipality) and submit the final plan package, which must include the agreed building elevations and the finalized landscape/seed-mix details, before final sign-off.

The project team and staff said they expect to coordinate remaining items by the next meeting; in the meantime, the approved conditions will be recorded in the site plan resolution and in the project folder maintained by planning staff.