After some months of rumor, citizens of Port Orford who attended the City Council meeting on February 18 learned that, yes, Dollar General will be building here soon. The location: a property on Hwy. 101 between 20th Street and Port Orford Loop. Formerly owned by a California developer, the multi-acre parcel will be remembered for the piles of trees and brush that were cleared, then left for months after the city denied a burn permit.

City staff and planning officials will be meeting soon with Dollar General to iron out details. No public process is planned, said the mayor, because this is a permitted use according to local zoning regulations. A citizen inquired whether there had been discussion of other commercial and residential construction on the property, which is also being rumored. “They have not brought this to us,” the City Administrator said at the meeting, “and we aren’t allowed to ask them about it.”

Multiple-use developments on three-plus acres are considered Planned Unit Developments, and as such must be approved by the Planning Commission.

According to the company Web site, Dollar General Corporation was founded in 1955 and now owns more than 12,000 stores in 43 states. It is “America’s largest small-box discount retailer by sales.” About a third of its merchandise sells for a dollar or less.