HENRICO CO., Va. (WRIC) — There is a battle brewing over new plans for a historic part of Henrico County.
Residents there are resisting efforts to build a Dollar General store.
The company wants to open the shop at Mountain Road and John Cussons Drive.
You won’t find much development in that area.
“We’re very much like a small town Mayberry,” explains resident Leigh Anne Collier, “We have a local grocery store. We have a local post office and a gas station.”
Most of the action is at the railroad crossing where train’s pass several times each hour.
“It is a village and it’s quaint and it’s precious to us,” adds resident Flo Clarke.
She too is upset that her neighborhood’s small town feel is being threatened by a corporate giant.
“I just don’t think letting a corporate business come in and take the easy money and change everything that’s here that everyone has worked so hard for is right,” says Rhonda Abernathy.
She owns the Glen Allen Super Market which sits just across the street from the proposed Dollar General site.
It’s a mom and pop shop where they know customers by their first names.
“There are no corporate businesses, big businesses here and if anybody lives here or has visited here, it’s like you’ve taken a step back in time. It just really doesn’t fit in with this area,” adds Abernathy.
Homeowners who live in the Deer Springs subdivision directly behind the site agree.
They’ve started a Facebook page and petition drive to fight this battle over the almighty dollar.
Collier organized that online effort.
“People want to hear their voices heard and they want to tell the leaders in Henrico that we don’t want Dollar General on Mountain Road, ” she explains.
No matter how hard they fight, outraged residents in the area may not win this battle. According to the county’s director of planning, this land is zoned for commercial development. As long as it meets the criteria for architecture and landscaping, it will likely get the green light at next month’s planning commission meeting.
Here is a link to the Facebook effort to fight the store: https://www.facebook.com/NoDollarGeneralOnMountainRd?fref=ts&ref=br_tf
