Family Dollar timeline unclear

DAVENPORT — Plans have been in the works for variety store chain Family Dollar to build its first store in Lincoln County with land bought from the city between Logan, Morgan, First and Second Streets since last year. An exact timeline for when ground might finally break is still unclear, but council has taken steps regarding that process several times this year.

That trend continued at council’s Aug. 25 meeting, when council set a hearing date for an ordinance to vacate a portion of the Logan Street right-of-way to allow parking space for the Family Dollar property. Such a petition will be held Sept. 22 at 7:05 p.m. at City Hall.

The portion vacated would be the south 20 feet of Logan Street between First and Second Streets in the city’s Columbia Addition.

Council documentation indicates the city no longer needs access to the portion of Logan Street, and no utilities are located in the portion.

Family Dollar had requested the vacation of the street, but city hall has yet to hear when exactly the business plans to begin breaking ground on the property. No building permit information has been submitted, city clerk Dave Leath confirmed.

The 0.8 acre plot of land, previously owned by the city, was sold in 2020 for $75,000 to the chain whose parent company is the popular Dollar Tree, which has over 15,000 stores nationwide. The nearest Family Dollar presently is in Post Falls, Idaho, but Dollar Tree locations exist in Airway Heights and Cheney.

Setting the hearing date for the vacation of that portion of Logan Street was council’s lone action taken in a brief, 20-minute council meeting, aside from approving two new signs up by Lincoln Hospital that were originally discussed by the streets committee.