Orange planners reschedule Walmart hearing

A special-called meeting of the Orange County Planning Commission July 30 lasted less than 30 minutes-just long enough to set a date for a re-do of the planning commission’s public hearing on Walmart’s special use permit. The national retailer has proposed to build a 138,000-square-foot supercenter on a Route 3 site near the intersection of Routes 3 and 20 in Orange County.

The new public hearing became necessary after county officials realized an Orange County Review error in the ad-vertisement of a public notice. Instead of the required two-week public hearing ad, the Review only ran the ad for one week.

Because of the error, acting county administrator Julie Jordan cancelled the board of supervisors public hearing on Wal-mart’s SUP only a few hours before it was set to start, “out of an abundance of caution.“ Supervisors rescheduled their public hearing for Aug. 24 at 6 p.m. in the Orange County High School auditorium.

Commissioners originally held their public hearing on the Walmart special use permit May 21. Then, they heard from Walmart planners about features of the proposed store. According to Walmart attorney Tom Kleine, the project’s unique design represented sensitivity to nearby historic features, like Wilderness Battlefield. Kleine also explained Walmart’s plans to make road improvements along Route 3, including installation of addi-tional turn lanes to improve traffic flow.

Also at the May 21 pubic hearing, about 80 speakers, including citizens and historians from Orange County and neighboring counties and states, addressed planning commissioners to voice support of-and opposition to-Walmart’s proposed store. The planning commission held two additional meetings to discuss the matter before finally voting 5 to 4 to recommend ap-proval of the SUP to the board of supervisors.

This time around, the planning commission’s Aug. 20 public hearing will be held in the Orange County High School auditorium at 7 p.m. Like the first public hearing, speakers will be allowed three minutes.

And in order to prevent a long, multi-meeting process, chairman Will Likins scheduled a meeting for the following day, Aug. 21 at 7 p.m. in the Gordon Building meeting room in case planning commission members required additional time and discussion before voting again.

“I want it clean. I want it right. I don’t want any mistakes,“ Likins said.