The grass is coming down at Family Dollar says a director in the corporate office.
After writing about the knee-high grass at the store last week (“Family Dollar: Too cheap to cut the grass?”), I spoke with Daryl Presley, the city’s director of community improvement.
Presley said the city has in fact been aware of the situation at Family Dollar. Last week the city issued a notice of violation to Family Dollar’s corporate office.
Presley said he was ready to issue a $100-citation to the store manager. However, the store manager pleaded with him not to issue the citation because Family Dollar’s corporate offices are responsible for contracting landscaping services.
“That’s not an unusual situation for a big company like Family Dollar,” Presley said regarding the landscaping contract.
Presley said Courtney Yancy, director of Family Dollar’s new store construction, promised to rectify the situation. When I spoke with the Yancy on Wednesday, she made the same promise.
“The grass should be getting cut even as we speak,” said Yancy. She also promised that landscaping would be maintained on a regular basis.
Yancy said this situation was unique because once construction was finished the store sat empty for a few weeks while the final permits were issued.
Typically during construction, Yancy said, the building contractor is responsible for landscaping maintenance. The delay between when the building was completed and when Family Dollar took possession of the building resulted in landscaping being overlooked.
“Our store services, wasn’t aware they needed to take over those responsibilities at that time, Yancy said. She added that the store will have a soft opening on Thursday, June 4.
Should the company have issues with landscaping in the future, perhaps someone can convince Chris Kelly to relocate a few of his goats from Rinehart Road to the store. Then Family Dollar could sell fresh goat cheese – just like Trader Joe’s. 😉
– by Dan Ping
UPDATE:The grass is cut. Thanks for the picture Chris McLeod. Mark Cochran also submitted photos.
Sanford, Fla. 