Store will be cited over landscaping
SAXONBURG — About 30 residents of Saxonburg Village filled the meeting room Tuesday night as the borough council agreed that Dollar General on West Main Street must be cited.
The residents of the income-based senior citizen independent living neighborhood behind the Dollar General, which was built five years ago over their protests, say the retailer has not abided by the borough's ordinance that it maintain the landscaping behind the store.
Karen Kennedy, whose Bella Drive front porch faces the 200 feet of neglected landscaping, said grass is infrequently and poorly cut, weeds are occasionally mowed over instead of pulled and the original mulch has never been replaced.
Kennedy said she and her neighbors originally asked the borough to require Dollar General to erect a wall between its building and Bella Drive.
Dollar General agreed to plant barrier trees instead of a wall. Those trees are stunted and do not block the view of the rear of the business.
At Tuesday's meeting, Kennedy reminded the borough that Dollar General promised beautiful landscaping, tall trees and a partial wall between its building and her home.
“We all know that promise was not kept,” Kennedy said.
She said the Saxonburg Village residents feel slighted by the borough as well because a borough ordinance requires the store to keep up the landscaping, yet Dollar General has never been cited.
“We feel the borough has failed us and our community since an ordinance is already in place,” Kennedy said.
She said the ordinance states that if a property does not comply with the landscaping ordinance, the borough will fix the problem and charge the property owner for the work, plus any attorney fees and other costs.
“So, what's the problem?” Kennedy asked.
She said whether it's the Dollar General landscapers or the borough's public works department, the landscaping should be maintained on a weekly basis, especially given the amount of revenue the Tennessee-based company collects from residents since the town's only grocery store closed in January.
“Please do your elected duty and keep our community a beautiful place that we want to continue to live in,” Kennedy said as her neighbors applauded.
Mary Papik, borough manager, said she will send a citation to Dollar General's headquarters regarding flower boxes that are now filled with weeds, planting boxes where the three shrubs originally planted have died, forsythia bushes that are the same height as they were five years ago from lack of maintenance, dead and missing shrubs along Bella Drive and four parking spaces where cardboard and recyclables are almost always stacked.
Papik said Dollar General will have 10 days to two weeks to comply or the company will be fined.
She said the noncompliance may cause the Dollar General to offer to build a barrier wall between the store and Bella Drive.
After the meeting, Kennedy said the citation still does not cover the maintenance of the landscaping across from her front porch.
She hopes borough workers will be sent to pull weeds and mulch the area, and the borough will charge Dollar General for the work per borough ordinance.
“It's a start,” Kennedy said of the citation. “It's a little too late and only involves the planting. We want some immediate action in weed pulling and grass cutting.”
Contacted late last week about the Saxonburg neighbors' complaints, a spokeswoman at Dollar General's corporate headquarters in Goodlettsville, Tenn., emailed this reply: “Dollar General strives to provide a pleasant shopping experience for our customers, both inside and outside our stores. We are actively working to address landscaping conditions at our Saxonburg, Pennsylvania location. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
