Kaine to Walmart: Consider another site

RICHMOND — Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and the speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates are encouraging Walmart and Orange County officials to find an alternative site for a Supercenter proposed near a Civil War battlefield.

The 138,000-square-foot store is planned near the Wilderness battlefield, which Kaine and Speaker William J. Howell said “ranks supremely important” among the many Civil War battlefields in Virginia.

“Every acre of battlefield land that is destroyed means a loss of open space and missed tourism opportunities, and it closes one more window for future generations to better understand our national story,” Kaine and Howell said in the later dated July 13 to Lee Frame, chairman of the Board of Supervisors.

The letter added two more voices to a litany of opponents who have urged Walmart to select another location in rural Orange County for its store. The retailer has said the site was selected after an extensive review and that it would not adversely impact the battlefield.

Walmart’s proposal to build in Locust Grove, less than one mile from the formal boundaries of the Wilderness battlefield, has stirred a tempest. It has drawn protests from more than 250 historians across the U.S. and a coalition of preservationists and criticism from congressmen from Texas and Vermont.

The battlefield in the county of 32,000 about 50 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., is where 29,000 Union and Confederate soldiers were injured or killed 145 years ago. It’s also the place where Robert E. Lee first met Ulysses S. Grant in battle.

In a statement on Wednesday, Walmart said, “We wholeheartedly agree this project presents the unique opportunity to bring the interests of battlefield preservation and smart development effectively into balance, and that is precisely what we have accomplished with our current proposal.”

Orange County supervisors were preparing a response.

Preservationists welcomed the news and said it could sway the board’s decision. Supervisors are believed to be leaning to approval of the special use permit Wal-Mart needs to build. A public hearing is scheduled July 27. A vote is not expected that day.

“I think that this letter is likely to be influential,” said Robert Nieweg of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “Now we have the governor of the state of Virginia and the leading Republican in our state making absolutely clear this is one of the most important places in the state of Virginia.”

But Orange County residents who welcome the store have said it will generate much-need tax revenue, hundreds of jobs, and provide a shopping option closer to home.

In their letter, Kaine and Howell urged Orange County and Walmart to find an alternate site beyond the Wilderness and other Civil War parks in the Fredericksburg area. The two offered the technical services of the state.

In a statement, the Civil War Preservation Trust said: “We firmly believe that encouraging Wal-Mart to move to an alternate location is in the best interests of both the National Park and Orange County residents.”

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
July 13, 2009

The Honorable Lee Frame
Chairman
Orange County Board of Supervisors
112 West Main Street
Orange, Virginia 22960

RE: Wal-Mart Development Proposal, Orange County

Dear Chairman Frame:
As Virginia and the nation prepare to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, we write to express our concern over the proposed Walmart retail center at the gateway to Wilderness Battlefield in Orange County.

As you well know, Virginia’s Civil War battlefields are considered the most significant ones in the nation, and the Wilderness Battlefield itself ranks supremely important. As Virginia’s population and economy continue to expand, many of our battlefields are being negatively impacted by development. Every acre of battlefield land that is destroyed means a loss of open space and missed tourism opportunities, and it closes one more window for future generations to better understand our national story. For these reasons, among others, we have worked over the past few years to partner with a number of battlefield preservation organizations to save nearly 2,000 acres on 24 tracts on 16 different battlefields.

We believe strongly that land-use decision must remain within the purview of local governments, and we understand the challenges local governments face when trying to balance competing interests. Nowhere are these pressures and challenges better illustrated than in the controversy over Walmart’s proposed development at Wilderness Battlefield in Orange County.

We believe that the Walmart project presents a unique opportunity to bring the interests of battlefield preservation and smart development effectively into balance. Fully respecting the authority of the Orange County Board of Supervisors to approve or deny Wal-Mart’s proposal, and appreciating the Board’s commitment to both the economic and cultural well-being of Orange County and the Commonwealth, we strongly encourage your Board to work closely with Wal-Mart to find an appropriate alternate site for the proposed retail center in the vicinity of the proposed site yet situated outside the boundaries of Wilderness Battlefield and out of view from Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.

If you and your Board are amenable to this, we stand ready to offer the technical services of any and all state agencies that could be of help to the County and Walmart, including those of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the Department of Transportation, the Virginia Department of Health, the Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, and the Department of Historic Resources.

Thank you for your consideration, and please let us know how you and your colleagues believe we can best assist you.

Sincerely,

[signed]

Timothy M. Kaine
William J. Howell