|
Soldiers who fell during the Battle of the Wilderness are laid to rest in Fredericksburg. |
I suppose I should know what I am missing.
Why would the Orange County Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors look past the fact that there are owners of the land along the State Route 3 corridor who are willing to cooperate with the county and one another, to plan and create a model entranceway into our county?
They'd do this by moving commercial development back off Route 3, perhaps along a parallel road, giving residents the desired box stores (including Wal-Mart), shops, restaurants, and even a much-needed hotel, without creating the probability of a many-mile-long blight forever replacing the existing woodland along the road's northern border.
Much of the resistance is not to the Wal-Mart per se, but stems from the fact that Orange County residents recognize that once construction on a major project such as this has begun and the county has crossed the Rubicon, there is no turning back--and we will inherit in perpetuity an enlarging strip mall, with all its ugliness and problems, as the remaining parcels of land along Route 3 are developed.
Why not step back, continue the creative planning process, do the job right, and create a model northern gateway to Orange County of which we can be proud?
William R. Wilson
Orange
