The Vigo County Commissioners voted Tuesday against rezoning land in Prairieton for a new Dollar General location.
Members of “Keep the Prairie in Prairieton” opposed the rezoning and presented to the commissioners a 19 and-a half-foot paper scroll with the names of almost 500 petitioners.
The commissioners decided quickly after that to deny the rezoning, with Mark Clinkenbeard stating he wished a representative from Dollar General were present to answer questions directly.
“That's probably one of these folks’ issues, and one of my issues is that there is no Dollar General contact,” he said. “This is a pretty important issue to the people of this community. And I think not having one Dollar General representative here, you know, speaks a lot.”
The only person who spoke in favor of the rezoning was attorney Louis Britton on behalf of the commercial real estate developer.
Unlike the townhall in Prairieton last week, there was more clarity on why Dollar General would be interested in placing a new store just four miles away from two other store locations. Britton said it was because other locations were becoming too busy.
“The best solution to that problem is to build another store that will, in fact, take some customers from the store that is overburdened,” he said.
It’s uncertain whether Dollar General will continue to pursue building a new store in the area.
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