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Gowanda, Dollar General to meet

GOWANDA — The village continues to move forward in talks with Dollar General, with the company now seeking a meeting with the village board, according to attorney Deb Chadsey.

“I received a call from Dollar General’s counsel and had a very long conversation with him,” Chadsey said during her comments at a recent board meeting. “They want a meeting with the board.”

On Chadsey’s recommendation, the board plans to meet with Dollar General before the next regular meeting. “I would suggest that we offer them a meeting before the board meeting next month because I have to have all of you there,” she stated of the matter. “We probably need to meet with them at maybe 4:30 p.m.”

Off that, Chadsey also noted that a meeting with the entire board present would have to be made public. “It is a board meeting, so it needs to be public,” she commented. “If people want to show up and listen, we need to let them.”

The main point of contention in the village around the proposed Dollar General remains the properties for development, of which Chadsey also provided an update. “I will share with you that we can’t direct them how to do anything that they’re legally entitled to do, but what I did try to gently investigate was their commitment to the particular properties they’ve identified,” she said, adding. “They do seem to be pretty committed.”

The meeting is very much a formality, as nothing definitive on the project is in place yet, but will nonetheless allow the board an opportunity to gain more knowledge on what Dollar General’s intentions are in the village. “They’re going to make a presentation to you,” Chadsey noted.

“And I think to the extent you have questions or concerns, you should be prepared to talk about them.”

For clarity, Chadsey made sure to emphasize that the meeting was not a public hearing, but a simple meet and greet at its core. “This is not a public hearing, they just asked for a meeting,” Chadsey reiterated. “They want to present to the board, but if you’re all there, under Open Meetings Law, it has to be open to the public. The public can certainly come and sit, but it’s not a public hearing.”

Chadsey went on to say, “We’re not even close to being ready to have a public hearing, what I’m hoping we’re really going to focus on is scoping the Environmental Impact Statement.”

With concern over the location again rearing its head, Chadsey noted that working on those concerns should be a top priority in the meeting. “A positive declaration was issued and a number of areas were identified that raise concerns for potential adverse impacts,” she stated. “So we need to scope those and identify what we’re concerned about with some specificity and give them direction on what they need to produce for us.”

Following Chadsey’s comments and the board’s approval of the meeting time and date, Officer-in-charge Dennis Feldmann added, “I’ll make sure we have a police presence here as well since it’s a hot-button issue. A lot of people will show up for that.”

The date for the July Gowanda Village Board meeting will be July 16, with the Dollar General meeting taking place at 4:30 p.m., before the regular meeting scheduled at 6 p.m.

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