Route 44 land eyed as Dollar General site
The proposed location of a Dollar General store east of the driving range on Route 44 in Millerton. 
Photo by john Coston

Route 44 land eyed as Dollar General site

MILLERTON —  A site plan application before the North East Planning Board is aiming to fill the void left when the Millerton Fresh Market closed in 2019, leaving residents of the Town of North East and Village of Millerton without a grocery store.

Robert Trotta, who owns the lot east of the driving range on Route 44, is proposing to build a Dollar General store of 12,000 square feet, 3,000 of which would encompass a produce section. Dollar General’s nearest locations in Amenia and Dover have approximately 10,000 and 9,000 square feet of space respectively and offer a variety of food options, though produce is not one of them.

“I think the town needs some groceries in here,” said Trotta in an interview. “Big time.”

At the planning board’s July 12 meeting, Trotta, along with architect Ray Nelson, presented the board with the plan, which includes parking for 40 cars. Trotta said the next step is to contact the town Zoning Board of Appeals and apply for a variance and a lot line adjustment.

“We started this project five years ago,” said Nelson. “They keep toying around with the idea of coming into Millerton and every time we talk about it, they make some other little change, the building’s gotten bigger, a lot of things have changed. That’s all prior to bringing it to the board. We’ve vetted it in-house and now it has to go to the planning board.”

If the plan is approved, Trotta would sell the lot to Dollar General for development.

The planning board has submitted the site plan to its consultant, Will Agresta of Matthew D. Rudikoff Associates Inc., for comment and review. Trotta hopes that the plan will be up for further discussion by the planning board in September.

At a meeting on Aug. 10, the North East Town Board discussed a request from Zoning Review Committee chair Edie Greenwood for a six-month moratorium on new applications for development on the boulevard due to the committee being near completion of its rezoning project. The town board is expected to take action on the request at its September meeting.

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