Neighborhood general store Dollar General failed to secure a spot for its proposed second store in Wimberley last week after the city council denied its application for a tree variance.
The nationwide chain opened its first store in Wimberley in the early 2000s at 125 Carney Lane, across from Wimberley High School. In that time, it became a reliable, discounted option for local residents to purchase household goods, groceries, beauty products and more. Dollar General’s recent move to add a second store in the city would have expanded this option to those living on the south side of Wimberley.
However, the expansion had a cost: a Heritage Tree, likely hundreds of years old, according to the developer.
A Heritage Tree is defined in Wimberley’s code of ordinances as “a tree that has a diameter of 24 inches or more, measured four and one-half (41/2) feet above natural grade.” The oak tree, with an approximately 48-inch diameter, sits in the middle of the proposed two-acre Dollar General lot, across from the opposite of the intersection of Ranch Road 12 and Saddle Ridge Drive. The lot itself is part of a larger seven-acre plat near a strip of shops known as The Junction, just inside Wimberley’s city limits.
“It is being requested that a heritage tree located on site be removed in conjunction with the development of this site,” the application for variance stated. “Trying to avoid this tree would prevent any reasonable use of this property as this tree is located in the middle of the property, and is unavoidable for any kind of development.”
Multiple residents of nearby neighborhood Saddle Ridge came to comment on the project’s consideration at the Wimberley City Council meeting on Thursday, Jan. 19.
“I don’t want to see the tree go… is there any way you can move the entrance?” one resident asked. “I just think that’s going to cheapen the entryway to Saddle Ridge. I have no offense against Dollar General… but right now, leaving the subdivision, there’s all those trees… it’s just going to drastically change the whole view when we pull out of our subdivision.”
“My one question is: why have an ordinance at all if you don’t enforce it?” Saddle Ridge resident Tom Campbell added.
Additional residents in the area sent in emails and letters to the city, primarily with concerns about the Heritage Tree and Dark Sky lighting compliance.
“We have worked in other communities that have the Dark Sky ordinances, so we’re very familiar with that and comply completely,” responded developer Rick Hanna.
But the concern repeated time and time again was regarding the Heritage Tree.
“This is not just any tree,” Mayor Gina Fulkerson commented. “We need to consider everything very carefully, and I haven’t heard anything that says — with respect to the seven acres as a whole, which is what our attorney said we’re looking at — that this seven acres is not going to be able to have some good, reasonable commercial use or access to it.”
City council members voted unanimously to deny the variance request.
