Planners Endorse Walmart
2009-07-02
By Hannah Wever
Review Staff Writer
Published: July 2, 2009
Thursday night the Orange County Planning Commission, with a 5 to 4 vote, recommended supervisors approve a special use permit which would allow a 138,000-square-foot Walmart supercenter to be built near the intersection of Route 3 and Route 20.
The site on which the store would be built is part of a larger 51-acre parcel, all of which has been zoned for commercial use for decades. But the big-box store’s bid to build has generated controversy from across the country because of its proximity to nearby Wilderness Battlefield and other historic features. The supercenter’s supporters have said the store would bring jobs and tax revenues to Orange County.
Thursday’s planning commission meeting was the second since a public hearing on the special use permit application May 21.
A fiscal impact analysis prepared by a Walmart-hired consultant has estimated that stores on the 51-acre parcel, including the Walmart store, could generate $800,000 per year in tax revenues and as many as 622 new jobs.
District 5 Planning Commissioner Nigel Goodwin said he opposed the overall concept of the project. Low-paying jobs, heavy traffic and increased need for police presence at the Walmart would offset any financial benefits the store may produce. Additionally, Goodwin said the proposed development would be counter to the county’s comprehensive plan’s targeted 1 percent growth rate.
“Nobody should say growth and evolution shouldn’t happen, but this is a big jump in a short time,“ he said.
Donald Brooks said his duty as planning commission member was to listen to District 3 citizens-not celebrities or activists from other states and other areas. And what he’s heard from citizens is that they want to see the Walmart built, he said.
District 2 Planning Commissioner Walter Smith said residents in his district had asked him to oppose the special use permit, and support preservation of the area as a historic feature instead.
“The battlefield is here; it’s not going anywhere,“ Smith said. “The question is what type of development do we want on this property?“
Chairman Will Likins asked that same question-but got a different answer. A few years ago when a proposed Sheetz store on the corner of Routes 3 and 20 was before the planning commission, project planners grew frustrated with planning commissioners’ requests and conditions, none of which Sheetz officials were required to comply with. Finally, Likins said, Sheetz planners threw up their hands and used their by-right development privilege to build the existing store, the design of which includes none of the toned-down design features planning commission members had requested.
“It will be just like Sheetz all over again,“ Likins said. “I don’t want that for Orange County and we could end up with something desperately worse.“
Likins commended Walmart planners for meeting and at times exceeding the guidelines specified in the county’s large retail use ordinance, which pertains to stores 60,000 square feet and larger.
District 1 Planning Commissioners Cory Redifer and Bill Speiden voted in favor of recommending approval of Walmart’s special use permit, as did Likins (of District 2), Brooks and District 5 commission member David Kovarik.
Smith voted against recommending approval, along with District 4 Planning Commissioners Tom Bundy and Terry Apperson.
District 3 Planning Commissioner Elliot Fox was not able to attend Thursday’s meeting. Instead, he sent a statement indicating his support for the project.
Next, the Orange County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing July 27 at 7 p.m. in the Orange County High School auditorium.
