State high ruling could aid town’s fight against Wal-Mart

ABINGDON, Va. – A Virginia Supreme Court decision sets what town officials believe is a favorable precedent for their case against a developer seeking to build a Walmart near Exit 14.

“There are some differences between their case and ours, but the bottom line is it’s the same issue: vested rights,“ Abingdon Town Attorney Deborah Icenhour said Wednesday. “It does give the town some assurance that its ability to structure growth and make that as positive as possible has been at least slightly reinforced.“

In the ruling handed down Friday, the state’s high court decided that a big-box developer lacked vested rights for its project before the town of Blacksburg enacted an ordinance restricting the size of retail buildings. Blacksburg adopted a special-use permit requirement for buildings over 80,000 square feet after the developer’s proposed mixed-use project morphed into plans for a big-box store.

Abingdon has taken similar action, by adopting building restrictions after developers started work on the Walmart plans.

The Abingdon lawsuit was filed in Washington County Circuit Court last year by Commonwealth-Abingdon Partner LP, a development firm that had, beginning in 2002, sought approval of plans for a retail development. The company claims it should be allowed to develop the project as originally planned without meeting subsequently added zoning restrictions.

“We’re reviewing the ruling to see how it applies to the present case,“ Daniel Barnes, the company’s attorney, said Wednesday. “We haven’t made a determination.“

Abingdon Mayor Ed Morgan said he is “very optimistic” in light of the Supreme Court ruling in the Blacksburg case.

“This court case makes it very, very likely that we’re going to win and get a favorable ruling,“ Morgan said Tuesday. “Ultimately what this case is about is not about being against Walmart; it’s about the ability of the town of Abingdon, its governing body and its citizens to really control growth and development of its future.“

With a ruling in the town’s favor, the developer would have to conform to aesthetic rules and seek a special-use permit from the town to build a store larger than 50,000 square feet.

The special-use permit process would give input to the public and leverage to the town “to shake it so it will have as few negative impacts on the town as possible,“ Morgan said.

Icenhour said a ruling in Abingdon’s favor might also discourage similar lawsuits in the future.

“I don’t dislike those folks on the other side, I just want to represent the town’s best interest,“ she said. “We’re a small area and we have to grow carefully in order to protect the town, its future and its interests.“