By Kathleen Sloan
City of Truth or Consequences Assistant City Manager Traci Alvarez approved Dollar General’s site plan at 971 S. Broadway on June 21.
With city approval in hand, the New Mexico Construction Industries Division is the next step in the chain store’s approval process, which is responsible for issuing a building permit.
The 2.182-acre site is a fat pie shape on the east side of Corona Avenue and north of South Broadway, across the street from the New Mexico State Veterans Home.
The land is zoned C-1, the only commercial zone designation in the city, which allows a broad array of permitted uses, including “department stores.”
Since Dollar General did not need to subdivide the land and had no conditional or special land-use requests, no public review of the project by the city’s planning and zoning commission was required by city code. Alvarez, as the city’s planning and zoning administrator, as well as Water and Wastewater Director Jesse Cole, Electric Department Director Bo Easley, Solid Waste Director Andy Alvarez and Fire Chief Paul Tooley all gave their approvals, indicated by city documents.
The Sierra County Citizen learned of the project through a tip from an anonymous source. The same source said a petition is being circulated that will eventually be turned into the city. Concerns include: the store doesn’t fit the character of the neighborhood and will give a poor impression to visitors entering via this major corridor; a mesa will be partially removed for its dirt content to raise the site; Corona is a blind turn because it is at the top of a hill; and increased traffic on the hill will make it dangerous for pedestrians, especially veterans, crossing the street.
The entrance to the store will be on the east side of Corona Avenue, according to city documents, obviating New Mexico Department of Transportation approvals for an entrance off of the state-owned road, South Broadway.
Despite the entrance being off of Corona, the new address assigned to the property by Alvarez is 971 S. Broadway. The address-assignment document states the owners of the property are Patricia and Julia Clark, whose address was given as a post office box in Elephant Butte. Dollar General is based in West Plains, Missouri.
The store will be a rectangle, 140 feet by 76 feet or nearly 10,700 square feet. The plans show 53 parking spaces along Corona and South Broadway.
I wonder if this means they will close the one that is currently open. Hard to see how this town needs two of them.
I had forgotten to add there was a big nationwide one day DG strike last month. The strikers referenced low wages and poorly staffed stores. The local employees, who didn’t participate, were told by management the directive came down from the top to fire any employee who took part.
I think we can safely assume DG doesn’t adhere to any progressive values, with low wages and little access to health insurance.
I am sorry to see this, as I used to shop at DG but it seems to have turned into a Junk Store that smells like a Bordello! I have tried branches in Cruces and Dona Ana, with the same atmosphere (?) . At times, a tornado appears to have hit the interior making it impossible to search for anything. Something has changed, making it is a poor example of a store for that neighborhood. My opinion only!
Am I correct in assuming that DG Corp is building this new business to move the existing store into? Our county can barely support the stores and services that we have, I can’t imagine us having two DG stores in a town this size. Has a Geology Engineer done a survey of that property and declared it stable to be bulldozed and built on? Remember what happened when the city ran that pipe under Broadway, in that exact same place, and when the monsoon started that summer the hill side collapsed under the road. How many months was Broadway down to one lane each way waiting for the city to get it fixed? We’re lucky that a huge section of Broadway didn’t wind up down at the bottom of the hill, along with a few cars. Are we going to get to see part of DG in the middle of Broadway or in someone’s backyard down at the bottom of the hill? Finally, what’s the plan for the corner? Is it going to be a right turn only onto Broadway? A three-way stop? Or a new traffic light? These are all questions that we need answers to so we can say that it’s going to be a safe place to drive to, near and walk around, especially for the seniors who cross the street there on a regular basis.
Nice they consulted those that will be effected by building it there. No consideration for.. as another stated the blind hill it’s atop. Have had several accidents already at Corona and broadway. How about the litter (that is bad enough up there) that it will bring with it. I understand they are most likely, like every other business, pulling out of the shopping center but maybe another area would be better, safer. Farther down broadway towards Williamsburg maybe
I would like to see the traffic impact study from the state and who the engineer was who submitted it. Impact studies are required anytime traffic might be adversely affected, which it will definitely do