Pictured is the proposed location for a Dollar General in the town of Poland. The town board opted not to go forward with a recommendation to change a zoning law. P-J photo by Eric Tichy

KENNEDY — The Poland Town Board has opted not to go forward with a plan to change a zoning law that could have paved the way for a Dollar General to be constructed within the town.

The board, at a meeting last week, decided not to move on a recommendation by the town Planning Board to add the words “department, drug or food stores” on lots along Route 62 or Route 394 to uses permitted by special use. Doing so would have required a change in the zoning law, which needed a public hearing and town board approval before becoming law.

Kelly Snow, Poland town supervisor, in a brief interview following the planning board’s Oct. 6 meeting said she was surprised the board made the recommendation for a change to the zoning law. She noted that she was under the assumption the meeting was to be used for training with a county official scheduled to speak.

Snow said she was unavailable to discuss the town board’s decision not to go forward with the recommendation. No one on the town board returned messages for comment.

Discussion to change the zoning law comes during a yearslong attempt to construct a Dollar General at the corner of routes 62 and 394 outside Kennedy.

The Broadway Group — the real estate development arm of Dollar General — has sought a 2-acre parcel of land for the location of a new store. Owners agreed to sell a portion of the property contingent on a use variance being obtained.

The variance was granted by the town Zoning Board of Appeals, but the decision was annulled by the Fourth Department Appellate Division during a challenge by a group of Kennedy area residents including Tim Mead, owner of Kennedy SuperMarket.

Though the recommendation came with the note that there were no specific projects “at the present time,” Dollar General was brought up more than a dozen times during the planning board meeting. In addition, two representatives of The Broadway Group were in attendance at the meeting.

Multiple messages to one of the representatives at the planning board meeting have not been returned.

Mead said he was pleased to hear that the town board opted not to move forward with a change to the zoning law. He has stated publicly that opening a Dollar General outside Kennedy would draw people away from the hamlet and hurt downtown businesses.