|
|
|
| Tue, Nov. 24 - - Mobile - RSS | |
|
|
Foes urge Wal-Mart to reconsider
Preservation coalition implores Wal-Mart's CEO to reconsider Wilderness site
Date published: 8/27/2009
By CLINT SCHEMMER As they indicated earlier this week, preservationists fighting a Walmart in the Wilderness battlefield area aren't crying uncle. Late yesterday afternoon, they fired off a letter to Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s new CEO, Michael Duke, urging him to reconsider the location its regional executives chose for a Supercenter in eastern Orange County. Wal-Mart and its real-estate partners--JDC Ventures of Vienna and 3 & 20 Limited Partnership of Burke--were granted a special-use permit for a 240,000-square-foot retail center Tuesday by the Orange County Board of Supervisors. The site is a quarter-mile from Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. Eight private groups, called the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition, say the development and traffic it will bring will mar park visitors' experience and destroy scenic vistas. Yesterday, the coalition wrote Duke asking him "in the strongest possible terms" to find another site that would "that would not be so damaging to the county's most-visited tourist attraction and one of the most important Civil War battlefields in the nation." The coalition offered to collaborate with company and Orange County officials to pick a location farther from the battlefield that would suit the retailer's needs. It said it is open to endorsing a rezoning for a new site. "Our coalition has stated from the beginning that we would welcome a new Walmart to Orange County at a less historically sensitive location," the groups told Duke, "[We] would be willing to consider supporting a rezoning at a location farther from the battlefield, and are eager to work with the county and Wal-Mart to help identify an alternate location." The groups urged Wal-Mart "to take advantage of the generous offer" that Gov. Tim Kaine and House Speaker Bill Howell made last month to provide state assistance toward selecting an alternate site. Wal-Mart's regional spokesman, Keith Morris, has previously said the Wilderness tract is the only Orange site that meets the corporation's requirements. "We are committed to our current site, which is zoned and master-planned specifically for the use we have proposed," Morris said yesterday.
Date published: 8/27/2009
Comp Plan
(posted by
grumpy
, Aug. 28, 2009 4:27 pm)
I have not reviewed the Comp Plan to see which is our most visited attraction. I have seen reports from tourist industry surveys indicating that Montpelier is #1, followed by Waugh Enterprises. The study I reviewed did not consider the parents visitng Woodberry Forest School in nearby Madison County as "tourists." The poit remains that the land is private property, not public. I believe the Comp Plan was approved by the BOS.
Is Wideopenspace ever right?
(posted by
WalterH
, Aug. 28, 2009 10:10 am)
According to our own comp plan, the Wilderness is a significantly greater tourist attraction than Montpelier. Of course, since the county rarely got any other facts straight during the Walmart dispute, maybe the supers have that number wrong too.
The county's most visited tourist attraction?
(posted by
Jaes
, Aug. 27, 2009 6:41 pm)
lmao.. name the tourist attractions in Orange....
Wildermarts
(posted by
richd123ny
, Aug. 27, 2009 4:40 pm)
Come on you people let's face it, the Yuppies and Dinks are now in firm control now. The only regard they have is for their pockets. Us older folks who were raised on morals, value and common decency are only dinosaurs' now, to them we belong in museums.
What are these people smoking?
(posted by
wideopenspace
, Aug. 27, 2009 4:05 pm)
"be so damaging to the county's most-visited tourist attraction" Uh the coalition needs to try again. Montpelier is the most visited attraction in OC by far. The battlefield is maybe #3 on that list. Waugh Enterprises is #2 and most people only visit it on the weekends for the ride-ins they put on. The James Madison Museum might even be #3 which would put the battlefield at #4. Why do they have to lie so much to make a point, does it make them feel special?
|
 |
|||
|
|||
