HOBART | Plans to build a new Dollar General at the border between Hobart and Portage are on the fast track, developers told the Plan Commission on Thursday.

Susan Meador, permitting coordinator for Houma Dollar Partners, said the company hopes to have the foundation in place before winter with the store to be constructed and open for business by May.

The Plan Commission set a public hearing for next month and also approved site plans contingent upon a number of stipulations that must be met.

Some of those stipulations include constructing a sidewalk in front of the store to be built at 720 County Line Road, increasing the right of way to a minimum of 40 feet and tying the pedestrian walkway to the parking lot.

The new store will be built directly south of the existing Family Express at the southwest corner of County Line Road and U.S. 6, said John T. Hannon, an engineer with Great Lakes Engineering of Portage.

Meador confirmed that the new business will be able to tie into the same Portage sanitary sewer system now used by Family Express.

"We've already signed an agreement with Family Express," she said.

In other business, the Plan Commission granted preliminary plat approval to Terry McCready, the developer of a 98-lot residential subdivision called Deer Meadow. The subdivision will be developed on 60 acres at the northeast corner of Colorado Street and 61st Avenue.

Plan Commission member John Brezik asked McCready to make sure the privacy fence planned for along 61st Avenue is of good quality.

"That's the entrance to the city," Brezik said.

McCready said his plans are to use a type of fence that would also incorporate plantings.

The commission also set a public hearing for next month to discuss plans for a two-lot subdivision called Marine Acres at 306-310 N. Union St.