Dollar General purchase offer withdrawn in Maple City
By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
Midwest V, LLC, a Spring Lake, Mich., developer working on behalf of Dollar General has withdrawn its offer to purchase three lots from the Flaska family in Maple City, realtor Deb Brown confirmed to the Glen Arbor Sun. Brown, who represents the family, said the offer was withdrawn on Friday, May 10.
The prospect of a small-box, national realtor moving into the tiny Leelanau County community drew swift, near unanimous, opposition from local citizens when the news surfaced early last month. Maple City resident Scott Mills, who lives next to the Flaska property for sale at the corner of County Roads 667 and 616, sounded the alarm in early April and organized the community to pack subsequent Kasson Township meetings.
“I see Dollar General’s business as moving into places where there are a couple local grocery stores and they put them out of business,” said Mills at the time. “Dollar General doesn’t sell fresh foods. This would threaten our local stores and pose and existential threat to Gabe’s. Local businesses add value by keeping dollars in our community.”
Brown said Kasson Township zoning laws—rather than citizen opposition—prompted Midwest V to withdraw its offer. Kasson stipulates that a development within its mixed-use commercial core not exceed 16,000 square feet (page 42 in its Zoning Ordinance). A Dollar General building, which averages 9,100 square feet, together with 25-30 parking spaces, a wastewater and easement footprint, would have exceeded 16,000 square feet. Brown said Kasson refused to allow the developer to merge the three lots, thereby tripling the allowed size.
The developer submitted preliminary site plans last December, and again last month, to the township, said Kasson zoning administrator Mike Lanham. No formal application was ever made.
Brown, a broker for Home Port Network, said the Flaskas—whose family has lived in Maple City for decades—are disappointed the offer was withdrawn.
“They thought it would have been good for the community,” she told the Sun yesterday. “People could buy things without having to drive all the way to Traverse City.”
She followed that with a written statement today: “The Kasson Zoning ordinance calls for a commercial corridor downtown, the Leelanau County Master Plan calls for commercial growth within the current towns to avoid commercial sprawl along the feeder highways. The lots owned by the Flaska family are commercially zoned and they feel more retail is needed in downtown Maple City to help keep the city viable and energized.”
With Dollar General now out of the picture, but with the Flaskas’ land still for sale, Brown opined that the kind of “mom and pop” store allowed in Kasson’s zoning regulations might not be viable in Maple City.
“While the zoning for small-footprint stores is felt to keep a form of ‘character’ and small-town feel, they are not economically feasible,” she wrote. “What kind of products would have to be sold in a 2,000-4000 square-foot store to bring in enough income to pay for the new building, taxes, stock and wages? These are tough questions for a potential buyer of any small-town commercial business. When a new retail buyer has researched this as a viable possibility, they should be given the chance to work out a plan within that community that would prove mutually beneficial.”
After learning of the withdrawal at a Kasson Township board meeting this past Tuesday, Scott Mills emailed the fellow citizens who had signed an open letter opposed to Dollar General last month. His words adopted the form of a victory letter for his campaign.
“There will be no Dollar General in our town! Not on this particular land at least …”
“As I look out the window now, the pink flags marking the planned soil borings that were never done swish idly in the breeze. An Oriole sings from the top of a White Pine. …”
“There’s no way to know how this would have unfolded had we not come together as a community and responded with a firm and well-reasoned no,but the situation was certainly resolved exactly how we asked that it be. And swiftly too. I suspect that our unified response had a decisive effect.…”
