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By CLINT SCHEMMER
Eastern Orange County's largest landowner, the King family, has made Wal-Mart an offer its members believe would defuse the national controversy over the retailer's proposed store in the Wilderness battlefield area.
The Kings would sell Wal-Mart its choice of land within the 2,100-plus acres they own near State Routes 3 and 20 at the same price as the site it has currently selected. They would also compensate Wal-Mart for "reasonable" expenses run up in planning the retail center, which is adjacent to the King property.
Historic preservationists oppose the site Wal-Mart has chosen, saying it is too close to the Civil War battlefield park.
"We're willing to offer them a site at the same price they're paying for their present location, less reasonable development costs they have incurred to date," said Orange businessman Kenny Dotson, the family's local representative. "We're willing to give them a viable solution that wouldn't cost them any more than the rezoning time involved."
Charles "Chip" King confirmed the offer during an interview this week.
"The $64,000 question is, why wouldn't the [Board of Supervisors] take a leadership role to work out a win-win solution that is there for the asking?" he said.
The Kings extended the offer to Wal-Mart's Virginia Beach lawyer--orally and in writing--through Dotson and their Culpeper attorney, John J. "Butch" Davies III, in May and June. The attorney has not responded to the family's offer, King said.
But Wal-Mart Director of Corporate Affairs Keith Morris said this week that the company "reviewed the King property during the original selection process and dismissed from consideration because it is not zoned for commercial use."
Regardless, local, state and national preservation groups, working together as the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition, still hope Wal-Mart--or Orange officials who support the retail center's current proposed site--will change their tune.
Since last summer, a rumpus has raged over Wal-Mart's proposal to build a 138,000-square-foot Supercenter a quarter-mile from Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. The store would anchor a retail center planned by JDC Ventures of Vienna on commercially zoned property just north of Route 3.
The Kings--who live in Maryland and Northern Virginia, but also have a house in Spotsylvania County--own more than 2,100 acres astride Wilderness Run in Orange and Spotsylvania counties, with a mile of frontage on State Route 3 and two miles of riverfront on the Rapidan River.
RETAILER WOULD GET
Selecting a location on the King property would be up to Wal-Mart, Dotson said. The family's land is zoned for various uses.
"We are trying to give Wal-Mart a way out," Dotson said, "but they feel they have a good, viable site, and three [Orange] supervisors who have voiced their support."
The Kings said they'll work with all parties, including preservationists and the National Park Service, to reach a solution that benefits everyone.
The family's offer "has the potential of bringing together all the groups," Davies said, "except the ones, such as the [Piedmont Environmental Council], who don't want to see any development at all in the county."
In April, the Kings joined with the coalition (minus the PEC) to ask Orange and Wal-Mart to jointly plan the future of the Route 3 "gateway" in eastern Orange, seeking to balance their interests with historic preservation and the county's desire for economic develop-ment. Their offer of a collaborative planning effort was swiftly rejected by several supervisors.
The county Board of Supervisors will hear public comment July 27 on JDC's request for a special-use permit that Orange requires for "big box" stores of more than 60,000 square feet. Members Mark Johnson, Zack Burkett and Teel Goodwin have publicly indicated they favor Wal-Mart.
At least four major Route 3 landowners, including the Kings, have approached Wal-Mart with other sites for its store.
But Davies said Wal-Mart's reasoning about the King land is, "Why trade a piece of commercially zoned land for one that isn't? It's like trading a small battle for a war."
Addressing that point, Dotson said, "Rezoning is part of the formality, but it's just as cumbersome as getting the [big-box permit], and the two could probably be gotten at the same time. It comes down to what the county wants to do."
Clint Schemmer: 540/368-5029
Email: cschemmer@freelancestar.com