Wilderness Wal-Mart hearings set anew

Wal-Mart’s proposed big box store near the Wilderness Battlefield is getting back on the regulatory track.

Earlier this week, Orange County supervisors rescheduled a public hearing for Aug. 24. Thursday night, the Planning Commission is likely to set a hearing for Aug. 20 before members vote anew on the special permit Wal-Mart needs to build.

Orange County planners had to schedule a second hearing on the proposal because a hearing in May was not legally advertised. Supervisors then had to cancel their hearing scheduled for July 27.

The Wal-Mart Supercenter has sparked protests from historians and preservationists who fear the store will attract too much traffic to an area near the famed battlefield in Locust Grove.