A three and a half year battle against Wal-Mart is over — and the citizens have won. Sprawl-Busters has written 8 stories about the small town of Front Royal, Virginia, dating back to December of 2002. Wal-Mart came to this community with a plan requiring the town to rezone 121 acres at the northern entrance to the town from residential to commercial. The citizen’s group, Save Our Gateway, fought the project every step of the way. The group argued that Wal-Mart should locate in the existing commercial corridor along Route 522, which already has town water and sewer lines. At one point, the citizens’ group sued Wal-Mart and Front Royal, challenging the vote that approved the river location. That vote had been clouded by the lack of a quorum. We reported last June that Wal-Mart finally pulled out of the project, and will look for another site in town. But the court appeal was still pending. This week, the citizen’s won another victory. “They all said we couldn’t do it,” our correspondent writes, “that we wouldn’t win in court, that Wal-Mart would win or the Town of Front Royal would win. Well, they didn’t win this time. This time the people won. The Supreme Court of Virginia nullified the Town Council’s zoning decision from R-1 to commercial made 3 years ago and further decreed that the Town Council not only acted improperly, but illegally when voting without a quorum. (One of the former councilmen the we ousted two years ago is back in the race again for this May’s election, trying to win his old council seat back).” The leaders of Save Our Gateway sent out this notice to supporters this week: “Friday morning, the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled on our court appeal, and decided in our favor! The town council did not have a quorum and therefore, there was not a valid rezoning Congratulations to all of you who have helped, supported, donated and joined with us over the past four years. It’s been quite a struggle, but we can now say it was worth it! We have won twice, once to move Wal-Mart, once to void the rezoning, and now we’re going to go for a third win — the permanent preservation of the land. We have proven that citizens’ really can be heard by their government, and can help shape the future of their community. It is now time to come together with all elements of that community and work towards a common goal for all of our futures.”
According to the Northern Virginia Daily Newspaper, the Supreme Court ruling is a precedent-setting case which returns the zoning on the 121 acres to residential use. The Supreme Court has overturned a lower court decision by Rockingham County Circuit Judge James V. Lane. Save Our Gateway had named Wal-Mart, the town of Front Royal and H.H.C. Richards Trust, the property owner, as defendants. Both Wal-Mart, which has stated its intentions to build elsewhere in Warren County, and the town dropped out of the litigation as it wound its way to the state’s high court. For earlier stories on this case, search Newsflash by “Front Royal.”
