Dollar General wants to plant a new store on the edge of Adams, but the retailer's plans run nearly double the size the city's code currently allows for commercial buildings. The proposed roughly 9,000-square-foot store would need both a variance and a development permit before it can move forward, and the Adams Planning Commission has a meeting scheduled this week to keep the process moving.
According to Elkhorn Media Group, Dollar General is seeking to open the store on a site off Highway 11, southwest of the intersection of Preston Street and Old Oregon-Washington Highway. The parcel sits between parked farm machinery and a lot with a cell tower, across from the area's hay sheds — a rural stretch of town that would see a notable change if the project is approved.
Why the Size Limit Is the Sticking Point
The hang-up is simple arithmetic. Adams city code restricts commercial buildings to 5,000 square feet, the outlet reports, while Dollar General's plan calls for a facility of approximately 9,000 square feet — nearly 80% larger than what's currently permitted. Without both a variance and a development permit, the project cannot move forward as proposed, per the same report.
City staff have already been in talks with the company. The Adams Planning Commission met via Zoom last month with Greg Gastineu, a representative for Dollar General Corporation, to discuss the project, and city staff described the conversations as productive regarding the store's potential impact on the city and its residents, the outlet notes.
What Residents Are Being Asked
Adams officials aren't just leaving the decision to commissioners. The city is seeking community input through a resident survey distributed with local water bills, giving residents a direct channel to weigh in before any variance is granted. Those who want to respond can return completed surveys with their bill payments or drop them off directly at Adams City Hall, per the report.
If the project clears the city's review, the stakes for day-to-day life in Adams are modest but real: the store would operate daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and employ three to five workers, according to the same account. The Adams Planning Commission was scheduled to meet Thursday at 6:30 p.m. to continue discussing the application.
Adams Code Already Requires Oversight on Larger Builds
Even routine construction in Adams draws city scrutiny once it crosses a modest threshold. The City of Adams Planning Commission states on its website that a structure over 200 square feet requires a permit — a baseline that underscores just how far outside the ordinary a 9,000-square-foot retail building would sit within the city's existing framework.
A Familiar Fight Played Out Down the Road
Adams wouldn't be the first small Eastern Oregon city to wrestle with a Dollar General variance request. In Pilot Rock, the city council approved a variance for 35 parking spaces for a proposed Dollar General, citing the unusual shape of the property, according to a 2021 report from the East Oregonian. By that point, Dollar General already had a location open at 45 S. Columbia Street in Milton-Freewater, giving the chain an established footprint in the region.
The East Oregonian's reporting on the Pilot Rock case included some inconsistent figures — describing the Dollar General building alternately and also detailing a separate, nearby Family Dollar proposal from Eyes North Corporation sized at 10,500 square feet, with parking numbers that varied between accounts of 33 and 35 spaces. Pilot Rock code required one parking space per 200 square feet of retail floor area, which the paper said would otherwise require 54 spaces for a store that size.
For now, Adams residents are left to watch how their own commission handles a similar balancing act — weighing a national chain's standard-size footprint against a local code written for something much smaller.
