Family Dollar developers have to answer many questions about their plans for a new location on the corner of Willow and Menefee streets, facing U.S. 160 after a town Design Review Board meeting on Aug. 18.
The town received plans for the 8,320-square-foot building on July 31, and the town's engineering firm, the Design Review Board and the Town Administrator Andrea Phillips all submitted questions to the developers.
Phillips asked whether a traffic study had been completed for the location. If the Colorado Department of Transportation didn't require one, she said the town might require one. She also asked for information about how trucks would access the site because Menefee is a gravel residential street.
"We don't want a bunch of additional traffic," she wrote in an email to the developers.
The town's engineering firm, Russell Engineering, noted in a letter that the project had not received a permit from CDOT. Among many other reminders, the letter said the developers would need to pave the streets around the building, provide a curb and gutter on the street side of the sidewalk to protect from erosion and provide screening of the parking area at least 3 feet high.
The board asked for a different color awning, a smaller sign and more info on lighting plans. The lighting plans for the location didn't seem match the plans for the building.
The developers plan to return to the next public Design Review Board meeting on Sept. 15 at 6:30 p.m.
"They can't move forward until all information is provided to the town, and approvals are given by town staff, design review board, etc." Phillips wrote in an email.
The Family Dollar store sparked several contentious town meetings after it was proposed, and the town board passed a moratorium on new commercial buildings over 5,000 square feet in September.
The town board ultimately decided this spring that continuing the moratorium past June could prevent beneficial businesses such as hardware stores or tractor stores from coming to town.
The board also found it could not ban a class of businesses without opening itself up to lawsuits. The board put stringent design codes in place, and created the Design Review Board to enforce them.
mshinn@cortezjournal.com
