Dollar General store planned for Sisters

The City of Sisters planning department is currently conducting a site-plan review for a new 9,100-square-foot retail sales establishment to be located on the south side of McKinney Butte Road directly adjacent to Bi-Mart and The Pines residential community.

The store to be built has been identified as Dollar General, a national corporation that has over 15,000 stores in small to mid-size communities in 44 states. In Central Oregon they have stores in La Pine and Culver with a number on the west side of the Cascades in towns like Cave Junction, Winston, and Roseburg.

The property is owned by Threewind Partners, LLC, with Helmut Junge of Eugene listed as the principal. Acting as the agent on behalf of Threewind, for the purpose of preparing and processing the necessary permitting documents relative to the property, is SimonCRE SDL III, LLC of Scottsdale, Arizona. Peter Krahenbuhl is their vice president of development. The architects for the project are CASCO + R/5 in St. Louis, Missouri.

The subject property is located in the Highway Commercial zone, which allows for retail establishments, restaurants, some franchises like McDonald’s and Dairy Queen (which are not allowed in the Downtown Commercial zone), motels, and a host of other allowed uses. Dollar General qualifies as an allowed use.

According to Community Development Director Patrick Davenport, City zoning regulations are spelled out in the City’s Development Code, and proposed projects must meet City requirements for lighting, maneuverability, parking, landscaping, signage, lot coverage, and other considerations. The City planners are charged with reviewing site-plan applications to see they meet City requirements but they are, by law, not allowed to decide if a proposed business is needed, wanted, or likely to be successful. They must make their decisions based on the established criteria.

The decision regarding Dollar General is a Type II decision, which means it could be called up to the Planning Commission for review.

Davenport said they should soon receive a Master Plan application for development of the remainder of the property to the east, behind BiMart, fronting on West Hood Avenue, which will include several more commercial pads and some apartments. That property adjoins the 13 acres along Highway 242 that is currently listed for sale. The 13 acres are zoned multi-family, which means it could be developed to include single-family homes, townhouses, and apartments.