PILOT ROCK — The incoming Dollar General in Pilot Rock looks to have some competition.

Eyes North Corporation, a Chicago-based corporation, is seeking a variance to the city code so it can go forward with plans to construct a 10,500-square-foot Family Dollar and adjacent parking. The Pilot Rock City Council considers that request when it meets Tuesday, June 15, starting at 6 p.m. at city hall, 144 N. Alder Place.

The council at the meeting also plans to approve the city’s 2021-22 budget of more than $3.8 million.

The council in May granted a similar variance for the proposal to build a new Dollar General. Pilot Rock Mayor Virginia Carnes said the city has talked about the need for economic development for years, and a pair of new stores in town is a boon.

“We’re thrilled to pieces,” Carnes said.

Eyes North is buying the recently partitioned lot next to Schoolhouse Village, 241 S.W. Fourth St., according to the staff report to the council, to build a new Family Dollar. The retail chain store has 8,200 locations, according to vault.com.

The city code requires a retail store to have one parking space per 200 square feet of floor area, one space per two employees and one bicycle space per 600 square feet of floor area.

That would require a store of 10,500 square feet to have 54 parking spaces. But Eyes North proposes 33 spaces as sufficient to serve customers.

According to the staff report, the site plan includes as much parking as possible given the dimensions of the property, a lot of 200 feet by 240 feet, and the proposal meets all setback and lot coverage requirements.

The council in May granted a parking variance to the Zaremba Group of Lakewood, Ohio, which bought Pilot Rock Hardware & Building Supplies, 181 N.W. Birch St., to build a Dollar General. City code would have required 54 parking spaces for the 10,640-square-foot building, but the council approved a variance for 35 spaces due to the shape of the property.

Dollar General is looking to expand in Eastern Oregon. The company announced last week its new store at 45 S. Columbia St., Milton-Freewater, is open.

To commemorate that opening, according to a press release from the company, Dollar General plans to donate 100 new books to a nearby elementary school. Through the partnership with the Kellogg Company, the donation will be part of a plan to donate more than 100,000 books across the country to celebrate new Dollar General store openings.

Once the city council makes a determination on the Eyes North Corporation variance, it moves on to the city budget.

The 2021-22 budget goes into effect at the end of June and is almost $2.8 million less than the expiring budget. That’s in large measure due to the about a $3.1 million decrease in federal, state and other grants. The general fund budget for the coming fiscal year is $828,952, and Pilot Rock’s equivalent number of full-time employees remains at 9.11.