VIRGINIA SITE FIGHT: SUIT SEEKS CLARIFICATION ON ORDINANCES
Topics: | | Community Impact | Site Fights & Local Ordinances | Virginia | Zoning Regulations | | | |
ABINGDON, Va. – A Nov. 25 court date has been set for the case that will decide what the developer of a planned Wal-Mart shopping center must do to bring the retail development to town.
The key issue in the case of Commonwealth-Abingdon Partners LP v. Town of Abingdon is whether the project will be considered under town ordinances that were in place when it was first proposed in 2002 or under current regulations, which are more restrictive.
“It is not an adversarial suit. It’s just a suit to ask the court a question whether the old ordinance applies or the new ordinance applies,” said Abingdon Town Manager Greg Kelly.
“We think enough time has elapsed that the new ordinance should be the one that applies, but it will ultimately be up to the court to determine whether or not the developer has made due diligence over the course of the last five or six years to be able to hold onto the old ordinance.”
Tim Scoggin, president of the Commonwealth Co., which is planning the development, says he just needs to find out what to do next in what already has been a six-year process.
“We’re not in any way, shape or form trying to circumvent any procedures we have to go through,” Scoggin said. “We just need to know what we’ve got to do.”
Scoggin said the local rules have changed more than once during the process, particularly during the lengthy, complex state and federal review of planned improvements to Interstate 81’s Exit 14, which is beside the planned Wal-Mart site.
“Now that we think all the outside issues have been resolved, we have to go back to the town, so now all we have to do is know what we have to go back to the town and ask for,” Scoggin said.
The project has faced a lot of opposition because some residents say it will draw businesses away from downtown. Town leaders are more concerned about traffic problems that a major retail center could cause on Main Street and in other surrounding areas.
Two major development ordinances have been enacted since the project was first proposed: a special-use permit requirement for buildings over 50,000 square feet and an entrance overlay corridor ordinance that regulates development on roads leading to the town’s historic district.
The project site plan shows a 183,917-square-foot Wal-Mart supercenter as well as five single-story structures labeled “shops,” four outparcels and an area similar in size to the Wal-Mat store labeled “phase II retail.”
“If the new zoning ordinance applies, then they will have to get a special-use permit to be able to build a building that’s bigger than 50,000 square feet and they will also have to comply with our design guidelines with the entrance overlay district, which in a nutshell means the building will have to be very aesthetically pleasing to people coming into town,” Kelly said.
He said the developer must first go through the process to subdivide the land, since the preliminary approval of a subdivision plat has long since expired, before tackling these zoning issues, which are expected to be decided by the court’s declaratory judgment in November.
“It’s just a waiting game,” he said, adding that he would not speculate on how the court will rule.
The company argues that because the town failed to act on a site plan submitted in 2003, it was approved as of June 23 that year according to procedures listed in the town’s subdivision ordinance – which would allow construction to proceed. It argues in its complaint to the Washington County Circuit Court that it has “secured vested rights” to proceed with the project and already has spent $950,000 toward its development.
According to the town’s answer to the complaint, the subdivision plat was still pending at the time the 2003 site plan was submitted, which would mean the company’s final site plan was not yet ripe for consideration.
The town also argues that not all conditions were met for approval of the plan by the Abingdon Planning Commission and so the company’s final submission was incomplete. Plus, according to the document, any such site plan would have become void in 2004 because a building permit was neither sought nor issued.
Scoggin, the developer, says this Wal-Mart project has taken longer than any he’s done, but he believes it will ultimately result in the construction of a store that Abingdon can be proud of.
“I think it’s been a long time in coming,” Scoggin said. “I think that ultimately we’ll be successful in showing the general public that what we’re doing is the right thing.”
But, he added, whatever the court rules in November, “It’s still ultimately up to the town of Abingdon whether this happens or not.”
Posted by Luke West on Wednesday, October 01, 2008
