Dollar General’s developers have agreed to restore wetlands damaged during the construction of a northern Michigan store last year.
Westwind Construction halted work on a new store in Honor, a village along the Platte River near Sleeping Bear Dunes, in April after the Michigan Department of Great Lakes, Environment, and Energy received multiple complaints about the construction on wetlands.
The state agency then determined that excavation work was taking place on regulated wetlands without a permit.
“At that point, the site was referred for escalated enforcement, resulting in discussions between the developer and EGLE about how to resolve the issues. This eventually led to the developer agreeing to restore the wetlands,” said Jake Riley, district supervisor for the EGLE Water Resources Division in Cadillac.
State law prohibits construction on regulated wetlands without an EGLE permit. Other permits for constructing a wastewater system, a non-residential well, and a driveway are still on the site.
Westwind Construction, a “local leader in Dollar General construction,” is an affiliate of Midwest V LLC, a real estate developer that has built Dollar General locations throughout Michigan. Westwind Construction, Midwest V LLC, and Dollar General did not return requests for comment.
The wetlands restoration project is expected to begin this spring.
Westwind Construction submitted a plan to the state that included restoring wetland soils that had been removed, regrading contours affected by construction, providing seeding to revegetate the site, and monitoring the wetlands.
After a year of monitoring, EGLE will conduct another inspection to see if the restoration efforts were effective.
It’s unclear whether a Dollar General will still be built on the site.
“There are no restrictions that would prevent development of the site related to the site restoration,” according to Riley. “However, any work/development in the regulated wetlands would require a permit from EGLE.”
If built, it would be one of three Dollar General locations in Benzie County, and one of over 700 across the state.
Dollar General has grown rapidly over the last decade, with more than 20,000 stores in the United States. It opened 725 stores last year, including in Bay City, Spring Lake, and Genesse Township, and expects to open another 575 this year.
Targeting rural areas without large box stores has been a key component of the growth strategy.
“With approximately 80% of these stores in towns with 20,000 or fewer people, we are uniquely positioned to serve an underserved customer in rural America,” Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos stated during a December earnings call.
However, this has jeopardized independent rural grocery stores, which account for roughly half of retailers in 44% of U.S. counties.
The Honor site is about a mile east of the nearest grocery store, Honor Family Market. The store’s owners have reportedly been attempting to sell since 2021, but are unable to find a buyer due to tight margins and competition from corporate retailers.
According to a recent study by the United States Department of Agriculture, when chain dollar stores open in rural areas, they push out independent grocery stores, resulting in a drop in sales.
As a result, some communities have resisted new Dollar General locations.
Local zoning rules in Leelanau County, Michigan’s only county without a Dollar General, have blocked the construction of new stores three times. Allegan County residents protested a Dollar General that threatens a locally owned party store. And one Michigan town was sued after attempting to block a Dollar General store.
These efforts have not slowed Dollar General’s rapid expansion, but the company has recently encountered challenges.
Sales at Dollar General have slowed as its core customer base reports that “their financial situation has worsened,” according to Vasos. In addition, the company’s stock price has dropped by 70% in the last two years. Additionally, the company intends to close 96 underperforming stores this year.
