Plans to build a Supercenter near Civil War battlefield taking heavy criticism
We’ve been following a story in recent weeks about how Wal-Mart wants to build a 141,000-square-foot supercenter on the edge of Wilderness Battlefield National Park in central Virginia. The plan came under heavy opposition in July by several historical/environmental/civil war preservation groups, collectively known as the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition, when they drafted a letter to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott. The letter expresses the deep concern many feel over the proposed store:
This Super Wal-Mart would be built within one-quarter mile of the National Park and would pave the way for desecration of the Wilderness with unnecessary commercial growth. Such a large-scale development is inappropriate next to a National Park.
The Civil War Preservation Trust has launched an entire website to spread the word and garner support against the plan. They were quoted this week in an article from NBC-29:
According to Brent Lawrenz of the Civil War Preservation Trust, “It’s going to put a tremendous pressure on Route 20 which is 2 lanes and they’re proposing to re-route part of it through key battleground area.”
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Posted by Luke West on Friday, October 03 | 1 comments | Permalink
VIRGINIA SITE FIGHT: MORE ON APPOMATTOX’S HANDOUT TO WAL-MART
Appomattox waives fees for Wal-Mart developer [News & Advance (Va.)]
Appomattox Town Council voted Tuesday to waive about $90,000 in water and sewer availability fees to developers of a planned Wal-Mart.
The waived fees, which are not an upfront cost to the town, will help offset about $130,000 in unexpected expenses to the developer, Town Manager David Garrett said.
As part of the ongoing discussions with developers, the town learned it did not own a utility easement next to the proposed property and therefore could not allow the developer to put in a necessary drain pipe, Garrett said. The property owner would grant access if the Wal-Mart developer expanded a connection road. The relocation project includes moving a 10-inch water main that serves the western end of the town and could cost much more than the waived fees, Garrett said.
“This project is in jeopardy of going away if this project has to take on this expense,” Garrett told the board.
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Posted by Luke West on Thursday, October 02 | 0 comments | Permalink
DELAWARE SITE FIGHT: CHESWOLD WAL-MART HEARING POSTPONED DUE TO TYPO
Typos delay hearing for Wal-Mart near Cheswold [Delaware Online]
CHESWOLD – Kent County officials have delayed a hearing on a Wal-Mart and strip mall because the wrong date was listed for the hearing.
The hearing was rescheduled for Tuesday but some postings still listed Sept. 23 as the date. Kent County commissioners didn’t learn of it until just before Tuesday’s meeting.
County Planning Director Sarah Keifer says the scheduled meeting was shifted and officials didn’t update this project’s application. County Attorney William Pepper says holding the meeting would have put any decision on shaky legal ground.
When planning staff checked, officials say they couldn’t prove the right date was posted on all listings and commissioners postponed the meeting.
The hearing for a 225,000 square-foot Wal-Mart off U.S. 13 was rescheduled for Oct. 21.
Posted by Luke West on Thursday, October 02 | 0 comments | Permalink
VIRGINIA SITE FIGHT: APPOMATTOX GIVES WAL-MART A HANDOUT
Appomattox waives $90,000 in availability fees to Wal-Mart developers [News Advance (Va.)]
Appomattox Town Council voted Tuesday to waive about $90,000 in water and sewer availability fees to developers of a planned Wal-Mart.
The waived fees, which are not an upfront cost to the town, will help offset about $130,000 in unexpected expenses to the developer, Town Manager David Garrett said.
As part of the ongoing discussions with developers, the town learned it did not own a utility easement next to the proposed property and therefore could not allow the developer to put in a necessary drain pipe, Garrett said. The property owner would grant access if the Wal-Mart developer expanded a connection road. The relocation project includes moving a 10-inch water main that serves the western end of the town and could cost much more than the waived fees, Garrett said.
“This project is in jeopardy of going away if this project has to take on this expense,” Garrett told the board.
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Posted by Luke West on Wednesday, October 01 | 0 comments | Permalink
VIRGINIA SITE FIGHT: SUIT SEEKS CLARIFICATION ON ORDINANCES
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.”
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Posted by Luke West on Wednesday, October 01 | 0 comments | Permalink
VIRGINA SITE FIGHT: DATE SET FOR CONTSTUCTION TO BEGIN IN LYNCHBURG
New Wal-Mart Date Set [WSET-TV (Va.)]
Finally a date is set for the new Wal-Mart Super Center on Old Forest Road, but the design has changed. The chain says they were trying to create a more neighborhood feel, and showcase the store’s new logo. Wal-Mart says it has proposed nearly 500-thousand dollars in improvements to Old Forest Road to ease expected congestion. They plan to break ground this Spring, and open the following spring.
Also see: Construction on Old Forest Road Wal-Mart Supercenter to start in spring [News Advance (Va.)]
Posted by Luke West on Wednesday, October 01 | 0 comments | Permalink
Princess Anne, MD. Wal-Mart Distribution Center Held Up By Water Shortage
For the time being, it looks like the Princess will not be awakened by a kiss from Wal-Mart. The small community of Princess Anne, in Somerset County, has been wooed by Wal-Mart for four year as the site of a potential distribution center. But so far, the project has been nothing but a frog. This warehouse became one of the most politicized Wal-Mart projects in the nation.
In May of 2005, when Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. announced he would veto a bill that would have required companies like Wal-Mart to pay more for its employees’ health care, he traveled to Princess Anne in Somerset County to sign the veto. This symbolic trip by the Governor to Somerset was meant to highlight “the county expected to suffer most largely from the passage of the bill,”
according to a news release sent out by the Governor’s office. State officials were confident that Wal-Mart would not drop its distribution center in Somerset County - even if the legislature overrode the veto - because of the incentives Maryland had provided to make the project happen. “I think we’re too good a market to pass up,” said the Governor’s head of business and economic development. “I think they’ll keep negotiating with us and we’ll keep negotiating with them and we’ll come to some middle ground.”
The law would have required all companies in Maryland with more than 10,000 employees to spend at least 8% of their payroll on workers’ health care or pay a tax to make up the difference. Wal-Mart was reportedly the only company in Maryland that would be affected.
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Posted by Al Norman on Wednesday, October 01 | 0 comments | Permalink
Weekly Update for Elected Officials: Sept. 24, 2008
Check out this week’s issue of the Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials – a compilation of Wal-Mart news from across the country and beyond.
This week’s issue begins with reports of price gouging on the part of Wal-Mart. What’s truly abhorrent about these reports, however, is that they are being made by the very people affected most by the recent cavalcade of hurricanes to batter the Gulf coast. The Arkansas News Bureau and The Consumerist have more on these stories.
You’ll also find major news on the legal front. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed its second lawsuit against Wal-Mart in less than three weeks. The first involves the Americans with Disabilities Act in Illinois; the second involves age discrimination against a 67-year-old optician in Missouri. In addition to the EEOC lawsuits, Wal-Mart will now have to face another class action wage/hour lawsuit. Salvas v. Wal-Mart was originally certified as a class action back in 2004. Since then the case has gone back and forth through the Massachusetts court system, eventually being decertified and winding up in front of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on appeal. Well, the SJC released its opinion this week, ruling that the decertification was improper and that the lawsuit should be reinstated as a class action. A trial is possible, which could cost Wal-Mart hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid wages and damages. The Boston Globe and Boston Herald have the story.
Also check out the Product and Food Safety Report, where you’ll find stories on BPA (and a class action lawsuit regarding the chemical that includes Wal-Mart), dangerous soccer goals and baby cribs sold at Wal-Mart, and a pet food recall involving Purina products sold at the retailer.
And finally, check out our “Stateside” and “Wal-Mart International” sections to find out what’s going on with Wal-Mart around the country and across the globe.
Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials [September 24, 2008]
Posted by Corey Himrod on Wednesday, September 24 | 2 comments | Permalink
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