Kaine, Howell urge Orange to move Wal-Mart
July 15, 2009 12:00 am
BY ROBIN KNEPPERGov. Tim Kaine and House Speaker Bill Howell are asking Orange County supervisors to find a new site for a Wal-Mart Supercenter proposed in the Wilderness Battlefield area.
In a letter dated Monday to Board of Supervisors Chairman Lee Frame, the two note the importance of Virginia's Civil War battlefields and say they are concerned about the proposed retail center "at the gateway to Wilderness Battlefield in Orange County."
While the two state leaders write that they respect the board's authority to decide on a special-use permit for the proposed retail development at the intersections of State Routes 3 and 20, they add that the project "presents a unique opportunity to bring the interests of battlefield preservation and smart development effectively into balance."
"We strongly encourage your Board to work closely with Wal-Mart to find an appropriate alternate site for the proposed retail center in the vicinity of the proposed site yet situated outside the boundaries of Wilderness Battlefield and out of view from Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park," Kaine and Howell write.
"If you and your Board are amendable to this, we stand ready to offer the technical services of any and all state agencies that could be of help to the county and Wal-Mart."
Frame said today that supervisors have not yet decided how to respond to the letter. The county's Planning Commission has recommended approval of the special-use permit. Superviors have scheduled a public hearing on the issue July 27.
For more on this story, read Thursday's Free Lance-Star.
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