Planners OK proposed Dollar General location

FAYETTEVILLE — Plans for a new Dollar General store on U.S. 412 east of Springdale gained initial approval Thursday from Washington County planners.

The Planning Board unanimously approved both a permit and the preliminary land development request for the project Thursday. The Planning

Board met online, as it has done since March when a health emergency was declared for the covid-19 pandemic.

The new store will be on 2.24 acres on the northeast corner of the intersection of U.S. 412 and Hickory Flats Road. The land set aside for the store will be split off from a larger tract if the permit is approved.

Land in unincorporated Washington County is zoned for agricultural or single-family residential use. Any other use requires a conditional use permit. All permits are reviewed by the Quorum Court after being considered by the Planning Board.

According to information from the planning staff, the proposed 9,100 square-foot store is about 4.7 miles east of a Dollar General store on U.S. 412. The area around the new store site is mostly agricultural, but there is a gas station, a recreational vehicle park and a building material business nearby. Access to the new store will be off Hickory Flats Road, not U.S. 412.

According to the staff report, the developers estimate the store will draw between 225 and 330 customers a day.

The store will be open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily and have four or five employees.

The development plans for the project will still have to be approved by the Planning Board.

The Planning Board also approved the preliminary development plan for the Local Ghost Whiskey Distillery proposed for property on Southeast Campbell Road, just outside West Fork. The board approved a permit for the business May 7 and the Quorum Court approved the permit May 21.

The distillery will have a tasting room, according to information from the planning staff. The property is in a flood way along the White River and will have two parking areas, One parking area,

higher than the flood plain, will be paved. The second parking area, within the area subject to flooding, will be gravel and be closed during any flooding.

The project must still obtain approval of a septic system from the state Health Department and a permit to use an access road that crosses a railroad track to get to the site.

Tom Sissom can be reached by email at tsissom@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWATom.