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Orange judge schedules trial for lawsuit challenging permit to build Walmart near Civil War battlefield Date published: 8/14/2010
BY ROBIN KNEPPER A judge has set a January trial date for a lawsuit challenging Orange County's approval of a Walmart Supercenter in the Wilderness battlefield area. Circuit Judge Daniel R. Bouton scheduled the trial to run Jan. 25 through Feb. 3. "It's likely to be finished before then, but that allows plenty of time for the disputes to be heard by the court," he said at a hearing yesterday. At a hearing in July, Bouton said he wanted the trial to take place in November. The Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield and six nearby residents are suing the Board of Supervisors over its approval of a special-use permit to allow Walmart to build a 138,000-square-foot Supercenter a quarter-mile north of State Route 3, near the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. The plaintiffs' attorney, Robert Rosenbaum, told Bouton yesterday he needed three weeks to present all his witnesses. County Attorney Sharon Pandak countered, "We don't need 30 hours of testimony that the Wilderness was a prominent battle. We're dealing with a specific piece of property that is not under any restrictions. Three days is sufficient." In a ruling delayed since April, when Pandak asked that the entire case be dismissed, Bouton let stand Count 3 of the suit. It alleges that Orange County's zoning ordinance doesn't "give reasonable consideration to the objective of protecting against destruction or encroachment upon historic areas" and that the Walmart site is part of the Civil War battlefield. "We're arguing that there is a substantive defect in the ordinance," Rosenbaum said. "The plaintiff wants the county to adopt an ordinance that goes along with the state statute." Pandak argued that there is no federal or state law that addresses what needs to be included in a zoning ordinance in regard to battlefields and that it is up to each locality to set historic preservation provisions in their zoning ordinances. The suit also claims supervisors failed to comply with the county's comprehensive plan and that the Planning Commission made procedural errors in the course of three separate votes on the permit.
faith in the justice system! Go Orange County and send these "blankety-blank" NIMBY fools out of the court in January with their tails between their legs. Their tactics are an insult to the freedom and rights that our forefathers set in place for us. The permits were all granted legally and in accordance to the law. So they are reverting to the good ol' "it's not fair" defense. What a bunch of immature jackwagons! C'mon WalMart. Let's have those dozers on site on Feb.4!!!
shidd!
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