The Wilderness Alert !!!!

[Busterbuttonboy]

Re: The Wilderness Alert !!!!

BY ROBIN KNEPPER

The Orange County Board of Supervisors is asking a court to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to overturn its approval of a Walmart Supercenter in the Wilderness battlefield area.

Calling the complaint filed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield and six individual plaintiffs a "rambling set of allegations designed to try to avoid dismissal prior to trial," the response filed yesterday maintains that the plaintiffs have no standing or cause to sue.

On Aug. 25, the Orange Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to grant a special-use permit for a 240,000-square-foot retail development 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. Walmart plans to build a 138,000-square-foot Supercenter as the anchor store.

On Sept. 25, opponents filed a legal challenge contending the board's 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.

In its response, the county says the "complaint displays a lack of understanding of Virginia land-use law."

"Digested to its essentials, the complaint does not state a cause of action. Rather, plaintiffs simply have a fundamental policy disagreement with the board," the response states.

The response also notes that neither the federal nor state government has prohibited development on the property, which has been privately owned and zoned for commercial development since 1973.

"Plaintiffs want to prevent use of land that they do not own and this suit is a contrived effort to enable them to do so," the response states.

None of the plaintiffs have standing to challenge the special-use permit because none are "aggrieved persons" under the Orange County zoning ordinance, according to the response.

"It is not legally sufficient to establish standing to sue that the National Trust and the Friends are attempting to advance some perceived public right or to redress some anticipated public injury," it states.

Robert D. Rosenbaum, attorney for the National Trust and other plaintiffs, disputed the main points of the county's legal response.

continued

"The complaint made a very strong showing of standing to bring this dispute to the court. The county's motion does not rebut that case in any way," Rosenbaum, senior counsel with Arnold & Porter in Washington, said in an interview.

"The county's motion fails to recognize the seriousness of the substantive allegations in the complaint, and we look forward to litigating the motion before the court."

No hearing date on the lawsuit has been set.

The board's approval of the retail project came after months of controversy and three public hearings before the Planning Commission and supervisors.

Opponents say the retail development and the traffic it would bring would denigrate the Civil War battlefield where armies led by Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant first clashed 145 years ago. They have urged Walmart to find another site in Orange farther from the battlefield.

Walmart supporters say 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 national park, and that convenience stores, a fast-food restaurant and other commercial enterprises already exist in the area.

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.

--Staff writer Clint Schemmer contributed to this report.

http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/102009/10142009/500473/index_html?page=1

[Busterbuttonboy]

Re: The Wilderness Alert !!!!

February 3, 2010
ORANGE, Va. - The Virginia county that approved a Walmart Supercenter near an endangered Civil War battlefield is asking a judge to reject a legal challenge of the planned store.

A hearing is scheduled Wednesday in Orange Circuit Court on the request of the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

Preservationists oppose Walmart's plans to build less than one-half mile from the Locust Grove battlefield in northern Virginia where 26,000 Union and Confederate soldiers were injured or killed 145 years ago.

They are challenging the county's Aug. 25 vote to approve the 138,000-square-foot store.

First, however, a judge will decide whether the challenge can move forward.

http://www.wtkr.com/news/dp-va--walmartbattlefiel0203feb03,0,2188087.story

[Busterbuttonboy]

Re: The Wilderness Alert !!!!

After listening to more than three hours of legal wrangling Wednesday, a judge will decide whether to throw out a lawsuit opposing a planned Walmart within a cannon's shot of an endangered Civil War battlefield in Virginia.

Orange County wants Circuit Court Judge Daniel R. Bouton to dismiss a challenge of an Aug. 25 decision to approve the 138,000-square-foot Supercenter within one mile of the Wilderness Battlefield.

Bouton did not indicate when he would rule.

Preservationists and some local residents contend the retail center will bring more commerce, traffic and pollution to the gateway of what is considered one of the nation's most hallowed Civil War sites.

Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and his union counterpart, Ulysses S. Grant, first met in battle at the Wilderness, where 180,000 soldiers fought and 26,000 were killed or injured 146 years ago.

More than 250 historians, celebrities such as actor Robert Duvall and Civil War preservationists have spoken out against the store and its possible impact on the battlefield. The store would be outside the limits of the protected national park but within an area where troops prepared for battle, marched, and died of their injuries.

Walmart and its supporters have said the store would be in a commercial zone that's already crowded with small retail outlets, and it would provide tax revenues and jobs in this rural county of approximately 15,000.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, along with six residents who live within three miles or less of the Walmart site and a group that maintains a historic estate on the battlefield, argue that the county Board of Supervisors ignored or rejected the assistance of historians and other preservation experts and brushed aside their concerns when it approved the special use permit for Walmart.

Wednesday's hearing focused primarily on the county's argument the case has no merit and should be dismissed.

An attorney for the county, Sharon Pandak, questioned whether any of the plaintiffs have legal standing to bring the lawsuit, which would require them to prove they would be harmed by the county's decision. She noted, for instance, that many live in subdivisions built upon areas of the Wilderness Battlefield.

Pandak argued that it's not enough for the plaintiffs to claim they would be harmed because they would be able to see the Walmart once it is built.

The plaintiffs' lawyer said Pandak was trying to set an unrealistic bar for their claim.

"She argues for a standing that no one could ever meet," argued Robert D. Rosenbaum, representing the trust and the residents.

The arguments also went into whether a Planning Commission vote was valid, the statutory obligations of supervisors, and estimates of how many vehicles the store would draw daily.

Rosenbaum wants the judge to declare the supervisors' vote "unlawful and invalid" and to block any further county action on Walmart's site plan. Construction has not begun at the site about 50 miles southwest of Washington, D.C.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9DKVPOG0.htm

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Re: The Wilderness Alert !!!!

WALMART SUIT ROLLS ON
May 1, 2010 12:36 am
BY ROBIN KNEPPER AND CLINT SCHEMMER
BY ROBIN KNEPPER AND CLINT SCHEMMER

A lawsuit aimed at stopping construction of a Walmart superstore in the Wilderness battlefield area can proceed to trial, a judge ruled yesterday.

Orange County Attorney Sharon Pandak had asked the judge to dismiss the suit filed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, six local residents and the Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield, claiming none of the plaintiffs had standing to sue and had failed to state a valid claim.

Circuit Judge Daniel R. Bouton, in a 10-page opinion released yesterday, agreed with only one of Pandak's arguments--that the National Trust did not have standing to challenge the county's approval of a special-use permit to build the retail center.

Bouton said the other plaintiffs could proceed with their case against county supervisors.


"We are grateful for the ruling that allows us to speak on behalf of preservation and the Orange County community that cares about this national treasure," said Zann Nelson, president of Friends of Wilderness Battlefield. "We eagerly await trial."

"It's a pre-trial ruling," Pandak said. "We tried to get the suit dismissed at an early stage to avoid trial and save the county time and cost. The largest plaintiff has been taken out and the others will have to prove their case."

The 138,000-square-foot Supercenter is planned as the anchor of a 240,000-square-foot retail center on 51.5 acres a quarter-mile north of the intersection of State Routes 3 and 20 and the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park's Wilderness battlefield.

The ruling is the latest in a 16-month battle that has drawn national attention.

Opponents claim the store and the traffic it will bring will desecrate the Civil War battlefield. Supporters argue that the property is outside the congressionally mandated boundaries of the national park, has been zoned for commercial use for more than 30 years and would provide needed jobs and tax revenue for the county.

On Aug. 25, Orange supervisors approved a special-use permit required under the county's "big-box" ordinance to build the Supercenter.

The plaintiffs filed suit Sept. 23, alleging that the county failed to comply with its comprehensive plan, did not have a valid recommendation from its Planning Commission and "brushed aside" mounting concerns about the negative impacts the store would have on the battlefield and national park.


"We're confident that we can prove every allegation in the complaint," Robert Rosenbaum, the plaintiffs' lead attorney, said in an interview yesterday afternoon. "It would then be up to the board to explain how, under these circumstances, anyone reasonably could have approved this project."

The residents who brought the suit--five from Lake of the Woods and one from Spotsylvania County--all live three miles or less from the store site. They claim they will be affected by noise, traffic and pollution from the Walmart store.

The LOW residents also claim they will be required to pay for upgrades to the dam on the community's small lake as a result of the Walmart construction. One of the LOW plaintiffs owns a florist shop on Route 3 and maintains she will be adversely affected by a high-volume, low-price competitor.

Bouton's favorable ruling for the residents' standing cited a Virginia Supreme Court decision that noted plaintiffs who lived in close proximity to a property that is subject to rezoning possess a "justifiable interest."

Bouton stated in his opinion that the "duties and obligations" of Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield are "sufficient to justify standing." FoWB is a nonprofit group that works with the National Park Service to promote and maintain the historic site where Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee first clashed.

"It gives us courage," the Friends' Nelson said of the judge's ruling. "It gives us inspiration and validation to go forward, so we can try to find that win-win solution on the Wilderness Walmart issue that we believe is out there."

Robin Knepper: 540/972-5701
Email: rknepper@earthlink.net

Online at: http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2...5012010/545102

[Busterbuttonboy]

Re: The Wilderness Alert !!!!

A judge on Friday kept alive the fight to block a Wal-Mart Supercenter near an endangered Civil War site where Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant first met on the field of battle.

Circuit Court Judge Daniel R. Bouton rejected a bid by Orange County, Va., to dismiss the challenge and instead ruled that residents who live near the Wilderness Battlefield and a historic group can contest the county's approval of the store at trial.

The decision resurrects a fierce national effort to protect a battlefield in Northern Virginia where 180,000 soldiers fought and 26,000 were killed or injured 146 years ago.

More than 250 historians, Civil War preservationists and celebrities such as actor Robert Duvall and filmmaker Ken Burns have taken a stand against the store and its possible impact on the battlefield. The Supercenter planned by Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Storeswould be outside the limits of the protected national park but within an area where troops prepared for battle, marched and died of their injuries.

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The challenge was brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, six residents who live within 3 miles or less of the Walmart site and a group that maintains an historic estate on the battlefield. They argued that the county Board of Supervisors ignored or rejected the assistance of historians and other preservation experts when it approved the special use permit for Walmart last August.

In his ruling, Bouton decided that the National Trust had no legal standing in the dispute but ruled for the residents and the local preservation group. The judge cited another national chain in ruling for the residents: Starbucks.

While the residents would have a tough case proving one of the ubiquitous coffee chain's stores several miles away would disrupt their lives, the judge said the construction of a 138,000-square-foot Walmart was another story. He said residents had legitimate fears about increased traffic and litter.

"Thus, the use of land by an establishment like Walmart could have an adverse and immediate impact on far more property owners than would a Starbucks," Bouton wrote.

The judge also concluded that the Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield had standing in the case and could move forward with a legal challenge. The group maintains an historic property at the battlefield, Ellwood Manor, a former plantation house that dates to the 1700s and served as a hospital for Confederate troops. It is located less than 1 mile from the store's site.

Bouton said the group would be "significantly affected" by the county's approval of the store.

In a statement, National Trust President Richard Moe said, "While the National Trust will not serve as a plaintiff in this lawsuit, we are very pleased that local Orange County residents and Friends of Wilderness Battlefield will be able to challenge this Wal-Mart project that threatens an historic place they care about."

Zann Nelson, president of the Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield, said members "eagerly await trial."

"We are grateful for the ruling of the court that allows us to speak on behalf of preservation and the Orange County community that care about this national treasure," Nelson said.

An attorney representing Orange County had not reviewed the ruling and had no immediate response. Walmart, which was not a party to this dispute, did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment.

The ruling focused on the legal question of whether the residents and preservation groups could further pursue their challenge and did not debate the historic arguments against the store.

Preservationists and some local residents argue the retail center will bring more commerce, traffic and pollution to the gateway of what is considered one of the nation's most hallowed Civil War sites.

Walmart and its supporters have said the store would be in a commercial zone that's already crowded with small retail outlets, and it would provide tax revenues and jobs in this rural county of approximately 15,000.

-- Associated Press

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking-news/va-walmart-battle-continues.html