CASCADE, Md. – Tucked away near South Mountain, the tight-knit community of Cascade is fiercely resisting construction of a new Dollar General market they say would infringe upon the area’s character and hurt local business, including a mom-and-pop supermarket that has been a community staple for more than 60 years.
Just a stone’s throw from historic Fort Ritchie in one direction and the Pennsylvania border in the other, the proposed DG market, which is only a few miles from two others just like it, threatens their village identity and the viability of their beloved Sanders Market and celebrated fresh local meats and tasty subs. Cascade residents say.
An Unwanted Proposal and Legal Battle
In summer 2022, the firm Outdoor Contractors Inc., of Hancock, applied for a special exception to build the store building on MacAfee Hill Road, adjacent to Fort Ritchie. The Washington County Board of Zoning Appeals twice approved special exceptions, declaring the store “functionally similar” to a grocery store, an allowed use under Cascade’s Rural Village designation, despite its strict zoning rules.
Residents, including the Committee to Protect Our Mountain, begged to differ, arguing the store is more like a convenience store, which is not allowed, and doesn’t fit the town’s rural character. They have appealed the zoning board’s decisions to the Circuit Court. “Zoning law requires the protection of that character,” the committee’s attorney Michele Rosenfeld said at a fundraiser. “We are in court to ensure those laws are followed.”
Outdoor Contractors did not respond to a message from LocalNews1.org seeking comment.
The case, dragging on for more than three years, has escalated to the state Appellate Court in Annapolis, with the community rallying to finance legal challenges. The latest court ruling has given residents hope, as it requires the board to scrutinize the store’s general merchandise component, which may align with a disallowed convenience store.
“We’re very fortunate that the community supports us,” said Sanders Market spokesperson Julie Sanders, daughter of owners Roy and Dollie Sanders, both nonagenarians who have owned the market since 1956 and still pop in to check on things. “I’ve lived in this rural village all my life. And if we let one box store in, then the lanes are open for anyone else to come in, which is not what we’re about. It’s our small rustic community, where everybody takes care of everybody else.”
Threat to Sanders Market and Redundant Markets
Residents fear that DG, with its below market prices and corporate funding, could siphon customers and threaten the local grocery store’s survival. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance found that dollar stores can reduce local grocery sales by up to 30 percent, often leading to closures in small towns.
The proposed store, which would dedicate a third of its space to produce and grocery items, has been touted by its relatively few supporters as a convenient option. But locals argue its processed foods and generic retail model don’t align with Cascade’s home-grown identity.
“The Sanders market is family-owned; everything is local, especially our meat products,” said Rick Ramsey, a lifelong resident and frequent customer. “Everybody loves coming here. It’s convenient rather than having to run to another town. It would affect a lot of people who love coming here. They come from far and wide, some for the local meat, some just for the subs.”
What befuddles residents is the fact that there are two existing DG markets very close by. The one in Blue Ridge Summit is just 1.7 miles from Fort Ritchie, and a second in Waynesboro is 5.8 miles away.
“I think people will be upset about another one,” Ramsey said. “They’d all be bumping heads with one another, and why put another one at the gate of historical Fort Ritchie, which is going to change in a way we like.”
Community Resistance and Renewal
The community is anticipating a more promising kind of renewal with the “Ritchie Revival” project, which promises to transform the former military base into a hub of tasteful shops, housing and a community center more in harmony with the area’s character than any sterile chain store, they say.
In 2021, developer John Krumpotich bought about 500 acres of the former fort in 2021, and founded Ritchie Revival to redevelop it. New businesses have sprung up among the fort’s “finger buildings” that once served as barracks.
The Committee to Protect Our Mountain has raised tens of thousands to fight the proposed store through fundraisers, including a June 29 event at the Top Secret Tap Room in Fort Ritchie, which co-organizer Danielle Durning, who lives next to the proposed site, announced raised $16,000 through a silent auction, local entertainment and remarks about the incursion’s impact. That’s only $2.000 short of the committee’s goal to fund the next round of court challenges.
“It makes no sense,” said Dena Leibman, who’s nearby ZigBone Farm Retreat hosted an earlier fundraiser. “They want to put a Dollar General right across the street from the gate of iconic Fort Ritchie.”
The committee has also launched a petition that has garnered more than 500 signatures, and a robust Facebook page managed by Shelly Strong continues to generate support, hitting themes of more traffic, safety and environmental impacts. Given the success of the late-June event, the committee is planning additional fundraisers ahead of the final showdown in Annapolis.
The Fight Continues
As Cascade prepares to welcome new businesses in the old fort and scores of employees, there is evident need for local stores like Sanders Market, which might see a renaissance of sorts. But in the long run, it can never compete with a chain deeply funded by shareholders and investors like DG, which can withstand indefinite losses until competition collapses and buy many market items in bulk at prices lower than a market like Sanders can achieve.
The case has quite a past. In the first court case against the planned market in 2023, the county Circuit Court overturned the zoning board’s approval, finding it had failed to justify the special exception. Outdoor Contractors consequently amended its application, claiming the DG Market would qualify as a grocery store. The zoning board reconsidered, and approved the special exception again later in 2023, ruling the store was functionally similar to a grocery store.
Residents appealed the zoning board’s second approval, leading to another ruling in October 2024 remanding the case back to the board of appeals, asking for further findings to ensure regulatory compliance, despite the board’s approval.
As the case heads to Annapolis, Cascade residents remain steadfast, hoping to protect their mountain community from what they see as a corporate encroachment threatening their way of life.
Ramsey, for one, doesn’t think residents would like that result at all. “People will get tired of having Dollar General be the only option in the area.”
Donations to the Committee to Protect our Mountain can be made here.
