LAKEPORT, Calif. – For the second time, the Board of Supervisors has granted an appeal of the Lake County Planning Commission’s denial of plans for a Dollar General store in Middletown.

On Tuesday, in a 3-2 vote – with Supervisor Rob Brown and Supervisor Jim Steele voting no – the board granted the appeal of Texas-based Cross Development of the commission’s Jan. 26 denial of a  design review permit for a major use permit for the 9,100-square-foot store, to be located at 20900 State Highway 29.

Following a two-and-a-half-hour discussion, the majority of the board did not find convincing the arguments offered against the store by community members, whose concerns included traffic and close proximity to schools, impacts on other businesses and nearby neighborhoods, having a large corporate entity impacting Middletown’s small town feel, and a lack of fit with the requirements of the Middletown Area Plan.

The Lake County Planning Commission also had denied the project’s major use permit last April, a decision which the board had overturned in July, as Lake County News has reported.

County Planner Michalyn DelValle said the store will be located just two parcels down from the recently approved Fast Track Oil project.

Joe Dell of Cross Development, the Plano, Texas-based company that built the Dollar General stores in Clearlake Oaks and Nice, said his company started working in February 2015 to design a building to fit Middletown.

He said they met with county officials and community groups, including the Middletown Area Town Hall, and incorporated input from those meetings. Among the changes that came from those exchanges were the building’s side orientation and changes in color.

The building’s green color, which some community members have objected to, is similar to those used by a coffee house as well as the new Fast Track Oil business, he said.

The building’s design, or elevation, “has changed drastically over the past two years,” Dell said.

During public comment, Lisa Kaplan, director of the Middletown Art Center, said three petitions against the store have gathered more than 800 signatures, and the majority of MATH members have been against the project.

She said a group of community members that the planning commission directed should meet with Dell didn’t, in fact, get a chance to meet with him on the project.

“At the very least what we expected was to have an actual dialog around this,” Kaplan said, adding that putting Dollar Generals in the small towns around the county ruins what makes Lake County special.

Eric Richardson, managing director for Harbin Hot Springs, said the clients of the resort – which also is in the rebuilding process after the Valley fire – want a small town feel.

He raised issue with Dollar General’s impact on the town, pointing out that Cross Development hasn’t made all of the adjustments that were requested.

Raelene Neve of Petaluma, who has owned the property since 2003, said she has always loved Middletown, and felt that bringing a business to it would be good for the town.

“It’s been hard to bring anybody in to look at the property,” said Neve, who added, “Where we’re getting caught up mostly is the design.”

Kimberly Haynie said there are 27 points in which the project does not align with the Middletown Area Plan. She asserted there were multiple omissions in the staff report about issues about noncompliance with the plan, which she didn’t believe Cross Development had tried to meet.

Beth Rudiger, president of the Middletown Area Merchants Association, said the group supports economic development as long as it follows the Middletown Area Plan guidelines. The association doesn’t feel the Dollar General store project fits with the plan, Rudiger added.

Former District 1 Supervisor Ed Robey said the planning commission has decided there is no way the project fits into Middletown or the Middletown Area Plan.

“It is not good government to ignore a land use plan developed by the people over 20 years that you adopted,” he said, adding that just blowing it off is irresponsible, arbitrary and capricious.

Cross Development attorney Sabrina Teller, in response to statements by community members that Dell had failed to meet with them, said Dell hadn’t been invited to those meetings.

She said most of the objections raised during the Tuesday meeting were based on the use, which already has been approved, not the design. While Cross Development was willing to work on different color, orientation and elevation, they didn’t want to jeopardize the use permit.

Board Chair Jeff Smith questioned why the project had gone back to the planning commission before all of the issues were worked out. “I guess I expected a compromise somewhere.”

Supervisor Moke Simon, in whose district the project is located, said he promised when he ran for office last year that he would listen to people, and he said he’s done just that when it comes to this project, as well as reading every letter submitted.

He said if the project meets planning requirements and it’s decided it can be located there, he questioned the board being able to say it didn’t want the project simply because it’s Dollar General.

“I think there’s an opportunity for economic development that will impact our area,” Simon said.

Steele pointed out that there are two Dollar General stores in his district, referring to the stores in Clearlake Oaks and Nice.

The planning process for such projects is important, said Steele, who went on to explain that there was a lot of pushback from the company about what the stores should look like. While those Northshore stores have a shopping base, he said he can’t find anyone who likes their designs or thinks the designs improved the look of the area.

Steele said that Lake County didn’t get the highest design level in the existing stores, and he felt Middletown should get something more.

As for the Middletown project, where community members had made it clear that they didn’t like the formula design, Steele said, “I’m not excited about this at all. It still looks like a chain store.”

Smith asked Steele what should be done to make it right. Steele said there are Dollar General stores in other parts of the country that don’t look like metal buildings. Some are brick. The Middletown design, however, looks like the same metal building, just with different colors.

“I don’t think that’s being responsive to what Middletown is trying to achieve in this plan,” he said, adding, “They continued to put lipstick on the original steel shed.”

Brown said it’s an emotional issue, but he didn’t agree that local businesses like Hardester’s would be hurt, noting that he was able to go to that store over the weekend to get an item he needed when other stores in the area were closed.

He was active in creating the Middletown Area Plan and has been involved with the community increasingly since the fires, and so he felt he know what the community wanted.

“This clearly does not meet the intent of that area plan. It just doesn't,” said Brown, adding that it’s also clear that the community doesn’t want it and that Steele had articulated the issues well.

However, Brown wanted to hear what projects people would like in that area, rather than just turning down projects when they appear.

Supervisor Tina Scott said she thinks a lot of community input was used in the design, and she didn’t think it would destroy Middletown. She said it was hard to say no to a company that wants to bring sales and property tax to the county.

Smith said local lumber yards and grocery stores are backed by big companies. “You’re fooling yourself if you think it’s not the same thing.”

Simon moved to overturn the planning commission’s decision and grant the appeal, with Scott seconding and the board voting 3-2. The board also reached consensus to give County Counsel Anita Grant direction to draft the findings of fact.

The supervisors are set to consider another Dollar General project proposed by Cross Development at its meeting at 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 25. That project, at 9781 Point Lakeview Road in the Clear Lake Riviera area of Kelseyville, was denied by the planning commission in February.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.