An Orange County Circuit Court judge will hear preliminary arguments today from national groups and local residents who oppose the planned 240,000-square-foot commercial development featuring a new Walmart on the Wilderness Battlefield in Orange.
The public meeting is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. at 110 N. Madison Road in Orange.
Representatives from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Friends of Wilderness Battlefield and Orange residents are challenging the Orange County Board of Supervisors’ decision to approve the supercenter near a historic battleground.
The complainants will argue that, “the supervisors failed to gather and consider important information about negative effects on the county, its residents and historic resources.”
The proposal is for a 140,000-square-foot Walmart and an additional 100,000-square-feet for commercial development. The site proposals are adjacent to the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, established by Congress in 1927.
The Battle of the Wilderness, where 26,000 men were killed or wounded, was fought on the historic battleground in May 1864 during the Civil War.
It was the first time generals Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant met in combat. The supervisors voted to approve the special use permit in August.
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