Wal-Mart drops store plan near Va. Civil War site

[Bodhisattva]

The 143,000-square-foot store planned by the Bentonville, Ark.,-based retailer would have been outside the limits of the protected national park where the core battlefield is located. The company had argued the area was already dotted with retail locations and zoned for commercial use.

Wal-Mart drops store plan near Va. Civil War site - Yahoo! News

Caveat: I have never been to the area, so I'm unfamiliar with the site in relation to the battlefield. With that said .....

If the Walmart site is outside the park, then what's the problem? If there are other retail shops there, then is this just target hatred for Walmart?

Is the property privately owned? If so, is the owner forbidden from ever selling it? If so, shouldn't he be compensated for not being allowed to exercise private property rights?

 

[AllTide]

I think I read that a Union Hospital was located where the parking lot was going to go. I am glad they (Wal Mart) backed off, to me that is sacred ground. There have to many of our historical sites corrupted by urban sprawl.

 

[Bodhisattva]

I think I read that a Union Hospital was located where the parking lot was going to go. I am glad they (Wal Mart) backed off, to me that is sacred ground. There have to many of our historical sites corrupted by urban sprawl.

If true, then is the park going to be expanded and the property owners compensated?

 

[Tider@GW_Law]

If true, then is the park going to be expanded and the property owners compensated?

No, because of the zoning of the property, Wal-Mart had to get a special use permit in order to build the store there. Community members challenged the grant of the special use permit by county officials, and Wal-Mart eventually agreed with the community members & historians and relinquished the permit. The property owner's property value should take into account its current zoning, right-of-ways, etc., and this shouldn't change it much (e.g. Wal-Mart was still able to obtain the special use permit).

 

[AllTide]

No, because of the zoning of the property, Wal-Mart had to get a special use permit in order to build the store there. Community members challenged the grant of the special use permit by county officials, and Wal-Mart eventually agreed with the community members & historians and relinquished the permit. The property owner's property value should take into account its current zoning, right-of-ways, etc., and this shouldn't change it much (e.g. Wal-Mart was still able to obtain the special use permit).

Thanks.

 

[Bodhisattva]

In many parts of the country you now have to get your neighbors' permission before you exercise your private property rights. That means private property rights are going the way of the Constitution - a quaint notion.

 

[Bodhisattva]

No, because of the zoning of the property, Wal-Mart had to get a special use permit in order to build the store there. Community members challenged the grant of the special use permit by county officials, and Wal-Mart eventually agreed with the community members & historians and relinquished the permit. The property owner's property value should take into account its current zoning, right-of-ways, etc., and this shouldn't change it much (e.g. Wal-Mart was still able to obtain the special use permit).

Thanks for the info. I assume that this means the property can still be sold, just not to something the size of Walmart? It hardly seems fair to the landowner; hopefully he can sell his property at the same or better price soon.

 

[Tidewater]

There is a Walmart 12 miles away in Fredericksburg (or, as I like to call it, "the worst place God has made.")
The proposed store location was the site of Union hospitals and Grant's headquarters.
The site is directly across Virginia Highway 3 from the park, but the land is in private hands. I'm not sure, but I believe that the Civil War Trust (preservation group) hopes to buy the land from the current owners, at market rates.
On the other hand, I can imagine no more appropriate way to celebrate Abraham Lincoln's legacy than by putting a Walmart on the site. Supporting large corporations is, in the end, what Union soldiers were fighting for.

 

[CrimsonProf]

In many parts of the country you now have to get your neighbors' permission before you exercise your private property rights. That means private property rights are going the way of the Constitution - a quaint notion.

I'm as conservative as they come (I wanted to name a child after Bill Buckley but my wife overruled) - but that's a tricky issue. If your whack-... plans for your property send my property value down the tank, that sure as hell concerns me.

 

[Tider@GW_Law]

Thanks for the info. I assume that this means the property can still be sold, just not to something the size of Walmart? It hardly seems fair to the landowner; hopefully he can sell his property at the same or better price soon.

I'm not clear on all the details, but I haven't seen anything referring to a sale of the property. I had assumed it was going to be just some sort of long-term commercial lease. The news stories I've heard about it have mentioned it being zoned as commercial and various trusts hoping to purchase the property from the owners later at market rate.

 

[Bodhisattva]

There is a Walmart 12 miles away in Fredericksburg (or, as I like to call it, "the worst place God has made.")

Heh. Why the hate for Fredericksburg? It has every fast food restaurant you could ever want.

 

[Tidewater]

Heh. Why the hate for Fredericksburg? It has every fast food restaurant you could ever want.

Yeah, that's part of the problem.
Mrs. Tidewater earned her BA from Mary Washington College. 25 years ago, Fredericksburg was a quaint, small Virginia town. The development stopped at the Interstate. West of I-95 was an Aunt Sarah's Pancake House and a Marriot Hotel. That was it. Then came miles of cornfields.
The Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisers have turned Spotsylvania into a suburban [infernal region], authorizing tens of thousands of new houses and hundreds of tacky shopping malls, traffic lights every 300 yards, traffic so congested it takes forever to go 3 miles. It is, in a word, awful.

 

[MISSIN'BAMA]

Yeah, that's part of the problem.
Mrs. Tidewater earned her BA from Mary Washington College. 25 years ago, Fredericksburg was a quaint, small Virginia town. The development stopped at the Interstate. West of I-95 was an Aunt Sarah's Pancake House and a Marriot Hotel. That was it. Then came miles of cornfields.
The Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisers have turned Spotsylvania into a suburban [infernal region], authorizing tens of thousands of new houses and hundreds of tacky shopping malls, traffic lights every 300 yards, traffic so congested it takes forever to go 3 miles. It is, in a word, awful.

You must never travel to NOVA, or as I like to call it, The Fifth Inner Ring of Hell....

I used to live of Rt 17 around 15 years ago and loved it there. I can't believe all the growth there....

 

[Tidewater]

You must never travel to NOVA, or as I like to call it, The Fifth Inner Ring of Hell....

I used to live of Rt 17 around 15 years ago and loved it there. I can't believe all the growth there....

You are correct, sir. I try never to travel to northern Virginia if there is any conceivable way to avoid it.
The Virginia Welcome Center on I-95 is on the south bank of the Rappahannock, 50 miles or so south of the entrance into the Commonwealth.
I suppose the General Assembly felt you were not really in Virginia until you got to the south bank of the Rappahannock.

 

[MISSIN'BAMA]

I suppose the General Assembly felt you were not really in Virginia until you got to the south bank of the Rappahannock.

They aren't the only ones....maybe sooner than later, I'll find my way back down to that area.

 

[dvldog]

Rt 3 was really fun last nite in the snow storm. I live about 5 miles from the intersection of rt 3 and hw 20. I'm pretty sure Walmart already has an alternative site very close by upon which to build. Its north of the intersection. Downtown Fbug is still a nice place w/shops and small restaraunts. West of 95 on rt 3 is pretty much a disaster area re: traffic. I drive it twice a day.