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Wal-Mart, Wilderness discussion broadens Eastern Orange's largest landowner and preservation alliance agree to jointly plan Wilderness gateway, invite county and Wal-Mart to participate Date published: 4/3/2009
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By CLINT SCHEMMER The dynamics of the conversation about land use in eastern Orange County may be changing. The area's largest private landowner, the King family, is joining with preservationists this week to ask the county and the retailer it has been wooing--Wal-Mart Stores Inc.--to sit down together and plan the future of the State Route 3 corridor. The Kings, who own 2,173 acres between the Wilderness battlefield and the Rapidan River, have agreed to engage in an open-ended effort to try balancing their interests with historic preservation and Orange's desire for economic development in that area. King family members and the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition are inviting the county's elected officials to collaborate in examining the possibilities for the "gateway" shared by Orange and the Civil War battlefield. The Kings and the coalition, in a joint statement delivered late Wednesday to Board Chairman Lee Frame and County Administrator Bill Rolfe, said they "strongly encourage" Orange to take part in the land-use planning process they both endorse. That renews and expands on an offer the coalition made in January to the county Board of Supervisors, which was rejected by three members. The majority called it a ruse to delay their decision on a retail center anchored by a 138,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter proposed just north of the State Routes 3 and 20 crossroads. Last year, the board rejected the Kings' request to rezone 177 acres to allow commercial development at the southwest corner of Routes 3 and 20. Board Chairman Lee Frame, in an interview yesterday, expressed skepticism about the King-coalition statement. "I'm not sure this letter offers much more than what was offered before, that it's anything new or different," he said. PRESERVATIONISTS LAUD KINGS' COMMITMENT The gateway planning effort "is very open-ended, with no preconceived notions," said Jim Campi, spokesman for the Civil War Preservation Trust. "We'll see what alternatives result at the end. We're talking about a process that goes far beyond 100-foot buffers, that involves all aspects of the planning process. "Now is the time to start moving forward with this. The preservation community is committed to it, and the King family is committed to it."
Read more stories about Stafford Date published: 4/3/2009
so they just need to take the king land and
the walmart land and turn it all into one
giant open field and charge admission to
the d ickheads who want to view overgrown
acreage and reminisce about that ...that
what? A giant CF?
It's a nice little hoax with no magic involved. They are offering the county to do this to soothe the people against Wal-Mart. The Wal-Mart is going to go right in that very spot, it is not moving from it at all unless the King family gets angered. Nothing here but a PR ploy, aka Dog and Pony show to make it appear they did some more work. As the BOS put it, it's an unnecessary delay to do it when 1 was already done a few years ago.
It is important to remember that we cannot take back the lands we develop! I think this is important issue and it needs to be planned accordingly.
They could build a new multi-million dollar Wilderness Visitors' Center donated to the Park Service as part of the deal. Then build the Walmart 10 miles west of Wilderness. The Visitors Center would be a stimulus from Walmart, instead of the taxpayers.
Aren't the Kings the owners of the property Wal-Mart wants to buy?
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