Meeting Tuesday night January 17, 2012

Below is an email that was mailed to everyone on the Dollar General email list.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Hi everyone, I met with the contractor, Chuck Byrd, last Tuesday to discuss the traffic island and the outside of the store among other topics.  He was very friendly and answered all of my questions without hesitation.  He assured me that the outside of the building is going to be all brick just like the pictures that they sent me before they started building.  He said that the siding that is up now is a vapor barrier. 

I asked him when the traffic island would be coming out and his reply was "whenever you tell me to do it."  He did say that it will put the entrance of the subdivision down to one lane for three or possibly four days.  So he would like me to get a consensus of when it would be best for the residents to have this done.  I talked with my wife and her concern is that buses may not be able to get in and out very easily if it is done during the week.  My concern is that getting in and out of the subdivision during rush hour during the week could be bad as well.  But the weekend is when everyone is generally home and running errands so maybe that isn't so great either.  Bottom line is the island has to come out and we will have to deal with the traffic headaches, but at least they are letting us pick when we feel we will be impacted the least.

I spoke with Chuck tonight and he is willing to come to my house tomorrow night at 5:45pm to meet with residents to answer any questions and to discuss when we want the island to come out.  (He did say that they are in the process of finishing up a store in Florence, KY, but as long as an emergency at that store doesn't come up, he will do everything he can to make it)  He also mentioned that any dirt or trees that they dig up from the island would be free to a good home if someone would stop down and pick them up.  He said that they can pull the trees out by their root ball so they can be replanted.  I volunteered to take one tree home with me, but there will be others available. 

I think we have a group of pretty level headed people who can carry on good conversations relative to the topic at hand, but let me say that this meeting is not the time or place to ask questions that Chuck can't answer and has no control over.  You don't go to McDonalds and complain to the 16 year old that takes your order that the fries cost too much, because there isn't a thing in the world the kid could do about it.  Likewise, asking why Dollar General chose this location, or why our Alexandria planning and zoning is requiring the the island to come out, is above Chuck's pay grade, and won't do a bit of good.  But on things that Chuck actually has control over I feel like he will do his best to accomodate us within reason. 

I encourage everyone to attend who can, and if you can't make it, feel free to send me an email with your question or concern and I will address them with Chuck. 

I know I don't have everyone's email addresses so feel free to forward this on to those I may have missed.

I hope to see you tomorrow night,

Andy Schabell

Email response from the Mayor

 Attached is the email I received from Mayor Rachford regarding my request for the email the Mrs Thomas went on record at the next planning and zoning meeting saying she did not appreciate.  For the privacy of the person who sent the original email to the mayor, I have X'ed out their name. 

 I will stand by earlier comments that I have made in saying that the city of Alexandria's planning and zoning regulations need a giant overhaul.  As witnessed by the email sent by the Mayor to Mr Jewell, the chairman of the P&Z board, once a parcel is zoned "highway commercial" the residents near it have absolutely no say in the process from start to finish.  They cannot get there hands on any copies submitted to the P&Z board before they are made public, which is only after they have been approved.  Residents cannot ask questions of the developer or P&Z board members to maybe point out things that have not been previously mentioned or discussed.  In addition to the residents not having a voice, our city council is left completely out of the process and cannot say one way or the other if they are in favor or if they disapprove of a proposed development for fear of being sued. 

If the present system has let the P&Z board, the members of city council, and the residents of Alexandria get railroaded into allowing developments that they do not approve of, isn't it time for a change?

I will be presenting a detailed outline of my proposed changes to the system at an upcoming city council meeting.

__________________________________________________________________________________

 fromBill Rachford brachford@alexandriaky.org

to volffas <volffas@gmail.com> cc Michael Duncan <MDuncan@zslaw.com>, John Jewell <jewelljr@fuse.net> date Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 10:59 AM subject FW: I was referred to you by Mr. Graus and Mr. Hart mailed-by alexandriaky.org

Mr. Schabell, copy of me email per your request.

Bill

From: Bill Rachford
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2011 4:33 PM
To: 'John Jewell'
Subject: FW: I was referred to you by Mr. Graus and Mr. Hart

John, FYI.  Please review Mr. XXXX’s email.  We can address the safety issues, etc and the zoning of a retailer in the front of his subdivision.  We can always request a traffic study from the state for a yes or no vote on traffic flow.  

However, we do need to remind the members of P&Z about the responsibilities of their office.  I think he is correct, the vote should have been 7-0 in favor.  They need to vote with the law and not their sympathy for folks who don’t want a retail store in their neighborhood (which was approved at the very outset of the project).  The last thing we need is another lawsuit like the Speedway case.  I know this case is significantly different since there were no variances in question and the developer has agreed to go above and beyond the call of duty in landscaping, etc.  I don’t have everyone’s email address at my fingertips so I ask that you forward this to your members.  I will be out of town rest of this week but will be in next Monday. 

Thanks,

Bill 

From: XXXX
Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2011 1:03 PM
To: Bill Rachford
Cc: sgraus@alexandriaky.org; dhart@alexandriaky.org
Subject: I was referred to you by Mr. Graus and Mr. Hart

Mayor Rachford,

I would first like to thank Mr. Graus and Mr. Hart for speaking with my family last evening near the end of the Planning and Zoning meeting.  I would also like to thank them for passing on my concern with the communication from the Alexandria City Building.  It was very disheartening to find out at the meeting I would not be able to ask questions after I had called the city building on Monday to ask questions and was told that I would not be able to speak with anyone Monday but needed to attend the meeting on Tuesday to voice my concern.

Concern:   Dollar General building a store at the front of SummerLake Subdivision using the entrance of SummerLake for their business traffic.

Issues: Safety, Traffic, Home Value

I believe my neighbors have gone into detail about each of these I will not waste your time in having to read the same complaints over and over.  However, I am still very confused about what happened at the Meeting last night.  The gentleman who ran the meeting had a very caviler attitude about the whole process giving the impression that he and the city members present where of the attitude, "we don't live in the Subdivision so we don't care - lets get this over with."  I don't believe all of the members of the board had that same attitude as several asked legitimate questions concerning the development.  He made a big point in the beginning of the meeting to go over the two types of meetings.  He specifically stated the meeting being held last night was to make the decision of whether or not the plans were in adherence to code and could be approved.  He went on further to explain it would be against the law for he or anyone else present to vote for or against the plans based on personal belief and not whether or not the plans were legally valid plans.  

Based on the explanation given at the meeting it was concerning that the vote was not 7-0 one way or the other.  Due to the information given at the beginning of the meeting it sounded as though the plans either passed inspection and would be approved (the reason we were not able to speak) or they did not pass inspection and would be disapproved (what happened the first time the plans were submitted).  I and the majority of my neighbors are very confused and can't figure out if the 3 who voted against the plans broke the law or the 4 or voted for the plans broke the law.  A 3-4 vote seems to imply 3 members felt the plans did not pass inspection.

Clearly in a government setting with city police present if someone had broken the law there should have been other actions taken last night.  By no one being arrested it would imply that the information given at the beginning was misinterpreted, wrong, misleading, or something of the like.  I am not accusing either side of the vote of breaking the law, but I am still puzzled as to how the vote should be interpreted based on the information given at the meeting. 

I think part of the concern of residents is there doesn't seem to be many answers for the questions other than "We can't do anything about it, its the law."

I ask, if you have not already done so to review the film of the meeting last night. 

Please let me know the following so I can inform my neighbors:

1) I will not ask about what specifically will be done about general safety/traffic as that was in a basic form addressed last night.  As a neighborhood we do not feel the answer given (completely safe no expectation of added danger) is accurate.

2) What will happen if the store is built, a traffic study is done, study shows a light is needed, but the state will not allow another light due to the distance between the Subdivision and Lickert?  It was stated last night that a reasonable traffic study could not be done until the store is open.  Can a traffic study be done now to see how close it would be to needing a traffic light?  The Subdivision is substantially larger than it was just a few years ago.  If a study now shows that just a few more cars would push the need for a traffic light - the Subdivision has plans for around a 100 or more additional homes which I would think the future traffic of the Subdivision would need to be taken into account as well. 

3) Are there any plans by the city to help battle the drop in Home Value this will bring? 

4) How the voting works: Do the voters have discretion or not? If the issue is as black and white as do the plans meet the requirements to be approved why wasn't the vote 7-0 one way or the other? 

5) What is the driving force behind approving this store in this location?  I am against any retailer using the space and sharing the entrance to our Subdivision.   I personally would not like a retailer at the top of the street but if they had their own entrance and exit to 27 and there was no road connecting the Subdivision to the parking lot I don't know that there would be nearly as many people upset.

There is commercial property directly across the highway off of old 27, Sharky's and K&M both are already there.

Last: From the City Website

My interests as Mayor are:

   1) Keeping Alexandria a safe place in which to live and work;
   2) Maintaining a fiscally sound municipality while keeping our taxes low;
   3) Properly managing our upcoming growth and prosperity.
   4) Consistently enforcing our ordinances.
   5) Improving the physical apearance of our city.

I will find it hard to believe 1,2,3,4, and 5 if SummerLake is forced to share their entrance with a retailer. 

Thank You,

XXXX   XXXXXXX

Interesting note about email sent by Mayor

A quick glance of the minutes from the October 18, 2011 planning and zoning meeting on Alexandria's website raises more questions than answers.

According to the minutes there was some discussion about the previous meeting and the vote taken where 3 of the 7 commissioners voted against the proposed store.  The minutes read;

"There was discussion brought up about the vote taken at the last meeting regarding approval of the site plan for the Dollar General Store on US 27 and Summerlake.  For the record, Susie Thomas stated she did not appreciate the e-mail that was sent by the Mayor to the effect that all commissioners should have voted for the plan, and Sonny Markus agreed as well"

Very interesting indeed.  I have sent the Mayor an email requesting a copy of the email in question. 

Dollar General store back in the news again

Just a quick article stating that the store is under construction.

Alexandria Dollar General coming together

6:06 PM, Jan. 6, 2012  |  

Comments

DOLLARGENERAL KY JANUARY 6, 2012 Alex Mejia pre-drills siding for a new Dollar General store under construction in the 9800 block of US 27, Alexandria. He works for Postell Steel Erectors, Rome, GA. The Enquirer/Patrick Reddy / Patrick Reddy/Enquirer Media

Written by

| The Enquirer

• Filed Under

• News
• Kentucky

ALEXANDRIA — Construction is progressing on a new Dollar General store at 9809 U.S. 27.
Dollar General spokesperson Emily Weiss said she could not confirm an opening date for the 9,000-square-foot store.
The store will be the second in theAlexandria area for the Goodlettsville, Tenn.-based chain.
Plans for the store were approved by the Alexandria Planning & Zoning Commission last fall.
The approval came after some residents of the Summerlake subdivision expressed concerns about the store being at the entrance of their neighborhood. Traffic flow and congestion were among their concerns.
The store will create some jobs in Alexandria. Weiss said a typical Dollar General store employs about seven to 10 people.
Employment information and job applications are available at www.dollargeneral.com.
Jeff McKinney
http://nky.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20120106/NEWS0103/301060164/