Wal-Mart Project Advancing
2009-01-22
By Hannah Wever
Review Staff Writer
Published: January 22, 2009
Despite a high profile effort to prevent a Wal-Mart from locating near Civil War battlefields close to the intersection of Route 20 and Route 3 in Orange County, the big-box store is moving forward with planning.
The national retail giant announced plans months ago to build a 140,000-square-foot retail and grocery store, but progress was delayed as project engineers worked to iron out traffic plans.
The store, as proposed, will take up 19 acres of a 50-acre parcel on the north side of Route 3, which is already zoned for commercial use. But the adoption of a large retail use ordinance into Orange County’s code means and retail establishment in excess of 60,000 square feet must submit a special use permit, and the public hearing process.
Wal-Mart planners filed for a special use permit in December, in accordance with the recently adopted large retail use ordinance. And this week, the project will undergo the scrutiny of the application review committee.
“We have scheduled the [application review committee] meeting for this week,“ Orange County Director of Community Development David Grover confirmed. But, he added, a set-in-stone timetable has yet to be determined. “From that point I can only speculate as I have no idea what comments may be forthcoming from the various review agencies,“ Grover said. “With the speculative nature of these things in mind, we might see this before the planning commission in February or early March.“
At the application review committee meeting, community development officials may decide that additional information is required from Wal-Mart project planners. Following the review committee meeting, county officials and Wal-Mart planners will likely set a date for a hearing with the Orange County Planning Commission.
After the planning commission’s public hearing, the project will be sent to the Orange County Board of Supervisors, along with recommendations from planning commissioners.
“Typically these items appear before the board of supervisors about a month after the planning commission,“ Grover said.
The news of Wal-Mart’s plans to build near battlefields and other historic sites has alarmed preservationists across the country and attracted the attention of national news media and activists. Opponents to the proposed superstore claim the site on which Wal-Mart plans to build threatens the integrity of nearby Civil War battlefields and historic sites. Others have expressed concerns that the store would create traffic congestion.
At a Jan. 13 board of supervisors meeting, Friends of Wilderness Battlefield (FoWB) spokesperson Craig Rains addressed county officials during the public comment portion of the meeting.
Rains said the FoWB was not opposed to development along Route 3 or a Wal-Mart in Orange County.
“Our belief is that Wal-Mart is in the wrong place,“ Rains explained. More suitable locations, he added, existed in other areas in the county with better traffic solutions and without causing injury to local historic features.
Rains urged county officials to consider information in a letter addressed to Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. President and CEO H. Lee Scott. In the letter, the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition (an alliance comprised of the Civil War Preservation Trust, Friends of the Fredericksburg Area Battlefields, FoWB, National Parks Conservation Association, National Trust for Historic Preservation and Piedmont Environmental Council), claims the Wilderness Wal-Mart would, “pave the way for desecration of the Wilderness with unnecessary commercial growth.“
Additionally, the letter referenced Orange County’s comprehensive plan and claimed there were incongruities between the proposed Wal-Mart and the plan’s objectives.
“The comprehensive plan also recognizes and embraces the importance of maintaining the county’s rural character by limiting growth and promoting the preservation of historic areas. Allowing a large commercial site virtually contiguous to a preserved piece of hallowed ground like the Wilderness Battlefield does not protect this valuable historic resource.“
But supporters of the supercenter defend the project’s potential to increase county revenue, and the creation of jobs and opportunities for county residents.
