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State agency faults county staff report to Orange Planning Commission on Wilderness Wal-Mart
BY CLINT SCHEMMER Virginia officials want "to set the record straight" about a proposed Wal-Mart's impact on the Wilderness battlefield. Kathleen Kilpatrick, director of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, wrote the Orange County Planning Commission yesterday after learning that the county's planning staff "appears to suggest" that the Wal-Mart site "is not historically significant." The Orange Planning Commission will hold a public hearing tonight on JDC Ventures' request for a special-use permit to build a 138,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter and other retail stores north of State Routes 3 and 20. "Construction of a Wal-Mart facility at the scale and on the site proposed will, in our professional judgment, have a serious adverse effect both on the Wilderness Battlefield and on the National Park," Kilpatrick wrote in a letter to commission Chairman Will Likins, who could not be reached for comment last night. The staff report, which recommends granting the permit, says staffers reviewed VDHR files and maps and confirmed with VDHR that "there are no known significant resources" on the Wal-Mart tract. The report states the site is in "the near vicinity" of the Wilderness battlefield. Kilpatrick took issue with those conclusions. "Please be advised that the proposed Wal-Mart site is located entirely within the boundaries of the Wilderness Battlefield," she wrote. Of 10,500 sites identified by the federal Civil War Sites Advisory Commission, only 45 were ranked "A" as having decisively influenced a military campaign and directly affected the course of the war, Kilpatrick noted. Wilderness, "is counted among this very elite class of national battlefields for possessing the highest level of historical significance and meriting the highest priority for preservation." The 51.6-acre Wal-Mart site is "clearly eligible" for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, along with the rest of the battlefield, she said. Orange Board of Supervisors Chairman Lee Frame said last night that he didn't see the letter until after the close of business yesterday. "I'm really not in a position to say anything about it until I have a chance to go over it and discuss it in detail with [Community Development Director David] Grover," he said. "I'll be talking with him [today]." Grover could not be reached last night.
Read more stories about Orange Date published: 5/21/2009
http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/listing.htm
note the part that says: "Anyone can prepare a nomination
to the National Register; generally nomination forms are
documented by property owners, local governments,
historical societies or SHPO, FPO or TPO staff."
so .. any number of people and groups could have started
the process of determining eligibility - and they did not.
this is what gives these preservation battles a bad taste for
average folks who think that preservation is a last minute
oppositin tactic
not entirely true. Anyone can nominate a site to be
"eligible" and the process of determining it's eligibility
would go forward.
The folks who say they care about preservation could have
done this - with all historic sites in that area - a proactive
thing that would put the issue on the table at the county
level... once the list of eligible properties was delivered to
them - they'd not be able to pretend that they did not know
when designating land use.
this is what is disingenuous and hypocritical here
Walmart is welcome to come to the area. Orange county doesnt have ANYTHING. and this walmart is in a great position, it will attract people from Spotsylvania as well. more money for the county. SMART SMART SMART.
VDHR has a limited staff and depends upon local govt. to contact them for input. Frequently Planning Depts. get the 'message' that the supervisors are looking for "no historical significance" in a report & so it is written. One of the Orange Co. supervisors asked why the parcel was not listed in the Nat. Register. In order to become listed, the owner has to apply or agree to let the process begin. The comment shows lack of knowledge of the process & lack of communication between BOS and staff.
Spotsylvania citizens tried to convince the BOS to designate various parts of land on either side of Rt. 3 as a Historic Overlay in the mid-1980's, all the way to the Orange Co. line. The idea was to preserve the significant areas for tourism. Property owners had a fit so it was switched to a HCOD [hwy. corridor overlay district] which is less restrictive. The supervisors showed no political will to do the right thing so the arguments continue.
Re: VDHR and the earlier comments about their involvement"
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