Opponents of the Walmart Supercenter planned in the Wilderness battlefield area filed a legal challenge yesterday to block the project.
The lawsuit by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Friends of Wilderness Battlefield and residents of Orange and Spotsylvania counties contests the Orange supervisors' Aug. 25 decision to grant a special-use permit for a 240,000-square-foot retail development.
The 138,000-square-foot Walmart would anchor the retail center on a 51.5-acre parcel northwest of the intersection of State Routes 3 and 20 and a quarter-mile from the entrance to Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.
The legal challenge contends the Board of Supervisors' 4-1 decision was "flawed in numerous respects." It claims that supervisors "brushed aside" mounting concerns about the negative impacts the store would have on the battlefield and park.
Calling the Walmart project "oversized and inappropriate," National Trust President Richard Moe said his 250,000-member group joined the lawsuit "to protect the Wilderness battlefield, the national park and the citizens of Orange County.
"It's our obligation to challenge big-box development on this vulnerable site, which would compound earlier land-use planning missteps and eventually would radically urbanize the rural gateway to the national park," Moe said.
Orange Board of Supervisors Chairman Lee Frame and Supervisor Mark Johnson said yesterday afternoon they were not aware of the lawsuit and could not comment. Other supervisors could not be reached for comment.
Walmart spokesman Keith Morris said the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer "not only met but exceeded the guidelines set by the county.
"This was not a decision reached without lengthy consideration and public input," Morris said. "The only other thing I can say now is that there's a world of difference between an appeal and an appeal without merit. Our contention would be that this falls into the latter category."
The Friends of Wilderness Battlefield and the National Trust are among eight local, state and national groups that formed the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition to try to halt the big-box development, which was announced in August 2008.
Zann Nelson, president of the local Friends of Wilderness Battlefield, said the tenets of the group's charter compelled it to challenge Orange officials' actions.
"It has consistently been FoWB's position that the location of the Walmart on the Wilderness battlefield denigrates its hallowed ground, historic significance and the experience for the visitor," she said in an interview. "We cannot in good conscience accept the findings of Orange's incredibly flawed land-use process."
Six private citizens are also plaintiffs: Curtis Abel, Sheila Clark, Dwight L. Mottet and Craig Rains, all residents of Lake of the Woods in Orange County; Susan Caton, owner of Susan's Flowers Etc. off Route 3 in Locust Grove; and Dale Brown, who lives in Spotsylvania County within sight of the tract where Walmart, JDC Ventures of Vienna and 3 & 20 Limited Partnership of Burke plan the development.
Rains, an Arkansas native, said he moved to central Virginia because of its historic resources, including the Wilderness battlefield where armies led by Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant first clashed 145 years ago.
"I think there are tremendous opportunities here for a restored showcase where visitors will have a unique experience right on the field of battle," Rains said in an interview. "Significant commercial development across the road from the gateway to the Wilderness battlefield would greatly reduce that likelihood and its historic education opportunities."
The 41-page lawsuit starts by quoting Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James McPherson, who wrote: "The Battle of the Wilderness was a great turning point in the Civil War--the first clash between Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant and the beginning of the end for the beleaguered Confederacy."
The plaintiffs ask the court to declare the supervisors' vote "unlawful and invalid" and block county action on Walmart's site plan.
Among the suit's claims:
The board failed to comply with the county's comprehensive plan, which calls for preservation and protection of historic resources.
The county's zoning ordinance is invalid because it fails to comply with state laws that require such ordinances to provide protections for historic sites.
There were procedural defects in the Planning Commission's three separate votes on the landowners' permit request. As a result, the commission did not make a valid recommendation, as required by law.
Walmart supporters said the store will bring needed jobs and tax revenue to the rural county. They note that the site is outside the congressionally mandated boundary of the battlefield, and that convenience stores, a fast-food restaurant and other commercial enterprises already exist in the area.
Rob Nieweg, director of the National Trust's Southern Field Office, said the county accepted environmental and fiscal impact studies from Walmart that did not assess the harm a Supercenter would do to local merchants and the national park.
Nieweg noted that critics have said from the beginning that they aren't opposed to a Walmart in Orange County, "just one that falls within the battlefield or in such close proximity to the national park."
James Lighthizer, president of the 55,000-member Civil War Preservation Trust, expressed support for the lawsuit and said his group still hopes Walmart "will opt to select a different site elsewhere in the county."
Walmart officials have said the site is the only one in the area that meets their criteria for zoning, size and road access. Work has not yet begun on the store.
Arnold & Porter, a powerhouse Washington law firm, is representing the plaintiffs. It took the case on a pro bono basis, volunteering its services.
"Local residents have a right to expect thoughtful and respectful representation from their elected representatives, and the nation as a whole deserves more careful consideration of this historic place where 30,000 Americans suffered casualties," said Robert Rosenbaum, attorney for the plaintiffs.
Orange supervisors have 21 days to file their response to the lawsuit.
Clint Schemmer: 540/368-5029
Email: cschemmer@freelancestar.com