Dollar General is looking to open a 20th store in Jefferson County, this time in Mapaville.
To accomplish that, the Overland Group in Springfield, which develops the stores for the retailer, is requesting a rezoning change for a 2.07-acre triangular parcel between Hwy. Z, Baptist Park Road and Beckett Road.
The Jefferson County Planning and Zoning Commission voted 6-0 on Dec. 14 to recommend approval of the request to rezone the vacant property from residential to commercial.
The County Council, which has the ultimate authority on rezoning in unincorporated areas, will take up the request at a future meeting.
Michael McMahon, an attorney with the Husch Blackwell firm, represented the Overland Group at the public hearing before the P and Z board.
“We are under contract to buy the property from the current owner (listed as Zion United Methodist Church, which is on the east side of Beckett Road),” he said. “Our intent is to put a Dollar General there.”
McMahon said the proposed store would feature the standard Dollar General layout.
“It would be a single-story, 10,000-square-foot store that would face Beckett Road,” he said.
The entrance would be off Beckett, which McMahon said the developers would improve by widening it and replacing the asphalt surface with reinforced concrete.
He noted the store would be a good fit for the neighborhood.
“There is a mix of uses there,” he said. “Nearby, there’s a gas station with a convenience store, an auto body shop and, of course, the church and a school (the Mapaville School that serves severely disabled students). We believe this request fits with the character of the area.”
No one spoke against the rezoning request.
Planning commissioners Greg Bowers and Tim Dugan were absent from the Dec. 14 meeting.
Dollar General already operates stores in Arnold, Barnhart, Cedar Hill, Crystal City, De Soto, Dittmer, Festus, Herculaneum, High Ridge, Hillsboro, House Springs, Pevely and Ware.