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Planners switch Walmart stance
Planning Commission votes on Walmart, againDate published: 8/21/2009 BY ROBIN KNEPPER The Orange County Planning Commission reversed itself last night, effectively voting to recommend denial of a plan for a Walmart Supercenter in the Wilderness Battlefield area. The commission split 4-4 on a motion to recommend approval of JDC Ventures' application for a special-use permit. Because the motion did not pass, it is the same as a denial, County Attorney Sharon Pandak explained to the commissioners. "It's unfortunate for it to go forward without a clear vote, because it doesn't send a clear message to the Board of Supervisors," she said. Supervisors will hold their own public hearing on the matter Monday night. They are not bound by the commission's recommendation, and three of the five have said they will vote to approve the permit. The hearing and vote were the Planning Commission's second this summer. On June 25, it voted 5-4 to recommend approval of the permit, with certain conditions. Last night's vote means the conditions it wanted will not be sent to the supervisors for consideration after all. On July 27, just hours before the scheduled Walmart public hearing before the supervisors, county officials were notified that the local weekly newspaper had failed to run one of the two legally required notices for the earlier Planning Commission hearing. As a result, the Planning Commission public hearing had to be redone, and the hearing before the supervisors was rescheduled. Last night, commissioners Donald Brooks, Dave Kovarik, Will Likins and Elliot Fox voted to recommend approval. Terry Apperson, Nigel Goodwin, Walter Smith and Tom Bundy voted against. Commissioners Bill Speiden and Cory Redifer were not present. Speiden voted to recommend approval at the first meeting but was in the hospital last night. "This will become a traffic-filled commercial city at our eastern gateway," Apperson said in arguing against the project. Brooks said county residents "are overwhelmingly supportive of Walmart." Smith agreed that residents want a Walmart but said his constituents don't want it at the proposed location. Almost two-thirds of the 32 speakers at last night's public hearing voiced concern about the proposed 138,000-square-foot store on a 51-acre site a quarter-mile north of the intersection of State Routes 3 and 20 and the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.
Read more stories about Orange Date published: 8/21/2009
disingenuous lead.......
(posted by
meanasasnake
, Aug. 21, 2009 2:36 pm)
"Planning Commission reversed itself" ???? Please explain which planning commissioner changed their vote? NONE. The numbers present allowed this to go through as a "no recommendation", stating otherwise is very misleading. tsk, tsk
Scoop
(posted by
grumpy
, Aug. 21, 2009 2:34 pm)
The Headline tomorrow will be "Planning Commission Reverses itself." I understand the Planning Commission is meeting again tonight, and two of the members who voted to approve the project will be out of town. As a result, you will have a revote, with two fewer people and a result showing this "reversal," a 4-2 vote instead of a 4-4 vote Hopefully, the headline will be accurate.
no recommendation
(posted by
DGrover
, Aug. 21, 2009 12:13 pm)
The tie vote by the Planning Commission simply means a no recommendation by that body to the Board of Supervisors, and it is ONLY a recommendation. The stafff report will go forward to the Board of Supervisors with the Plannning Commission action noted. It is interesting that no one member shanged their botes on this, and that the fact one member was having surgery is the only thing that changed the outcome. Subject to the proposed conditions, this remains a project that should go forward.
Distorted and Defective
(posted by
hobbs
, Aug. 21, 2009 10:31 am)
This report is both distorted and defective. Distorted because the headline and lead suggest that the opposition gained a majority when, in fact, they are still the same four-person minority. It is defective because it fails to explain that no member switched his vote, why Cory Redifer did not participate, and his position on the issue. The commission went from approval to having no position and the article should have reflected that upfront.
Planning Commission listened to constituents
(posted by
romy23
, Aug. 21, 2009 10:21 am)
Congratulations to the Planning Commission for listening to constituents! We want the Walmart, just not at the proposed location. It can go in another location in the county and still offer the same economic benefits. Hopefully the Supervisors will show the same respect to the citizens they represent and vote in the interests of the people, not the interests of Walmart.
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