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Vermont legislature asks Virginians, Wal-Mart to back off big-box development at Wilderness gateway to national military park
BY CLINT SCHEMMER Vermonters to the front! The Green Mountain State's legislature weighed in forcefully yesterday in the Wilderness Wal-Mart controversy in central Virginia. Despite furious last-minute lobbying by Wal-Mart, the Vermont House added its voice to that of the Senate, adopting a joint resolution expressing the state's opposition to big-box development in the Wilderness battlefield area. The world's largest retailer proposes to build a 139,000-square-foot Supercenter less than a quarter-mile from an entrance to Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. The owner of an adjacent tract proposes a mixed-use development on 900 acres that wrap around the 51-acre tract where the Wal-Mart retail center would be sited. Without naming Wal-Mart, the Vermont General Assembly asked the developers to find alternative plots for their stores farther from the Civil War battlefield. In bipartisan fashion, the legislature also asked the Orange County Board of Supervisors, now considering a special-use permit for the Wal-Mart store, to preserve the area. A majority of the Orange supervisors have indicated that they support the Wal-Mart proposal. The Vermont assembly also asked Gov. Tim Kaine and the Old Dominion's House and Senate to strongly support protecting the "historic ground of the Wilderness that is so important to the history of our state, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the entire nation." Asked for comment, Wal-Mart spokesman Keith Morris said the Wilderness Supercenter's "impact would not be negative to the battlefield if the project goes forward." He said Wal-Mart will respond to Vermont's legislators. "We still understand the historical significance of the Wilderness site, and we have done everything in our power to ensure that our development is respectful of the location and the guidelines [Orange County] has already put forth," Morris said. The Vermont House and Senate held hearings, receiving testimony from historians, park Superintendent Russ Smith and representatives of Wal-Mart and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The pivotal House debate, and the resolution's second reading, came Thursday as Vermont and the nation marked the bicentennial of President Abraham Lincoln's birth.
if all the other stores are allowed to build in the area, then so should wal mart
If all the stores can go in close to the "Gateway" then wal-mart should be able to build
wideopenspace .. i agree .. vermont has no business being involved in the decision at all.
Chancellorsville? Big box stores galore are going in along with housing developments. Where is the outrage with it being only a mile from the "Gateway?" Where is the outrage for the medical park/nursery just across the creek from Orange that is being planned in Spotsy? Stop being discriminatory against who can build and who can't. Vermont Yankees Go Home
Orange County BOS is to blame. They allowed that land to be rezoned to commercial. Walmart purchased it. It happens to be a large store, more than 60,000 square feet. So, if it were a CVS that was going there, would there be this dispute? No, because CVS would not require the special use permit. Blame the planners of Orange County.
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