ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, August 16, 1996 TAG: 9608160047
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: FREDERICKSBURG
SOURCE: Associated Press
A plan to stop a Wal-Mart store from being built on land that was once part of George Washington's farm is apparently on track, but the retailer said Thursday it won't yet renounce claim to the property.
A nonprofit group is trying to raise about $3 million to buy the land adjacent to the site of the farm where the first president lived as an adolescent. The home, called Ferry Farm, later burned to the ground.
Wal-Mart proposed its superstore in February.
The retailer later agreed to give up its controversial plan in return for permission to build a similar store nearby.
Wal-Mart had set a deadline of Thursday of this week for the Kenmore Foundation to commit to the deal and prove it can come up with the money, or the company would go ahead with its original site.
But Wal-Mart spokeswoman Betsy Reithemeyer said the company wants to postpone a decision until after a zoning hearing on the new property next week.
The Stafford County Board of Supervisors is expected to approve the company's request to change the zoning on the new site.
The Kenmore group oversees the nearby home of Washington's sister, which is preserved as a museum.
Kenmore must raise not only the approximately $2.2 million land purchase price, but also the cost of reimbursing Wal-Mart and its development partners for work already done, Reithemeyer said.
Kenmore should meet the new Wednesday deadline, museum Executive Director Vernon Edenfield said.
``The company must certainly realize that Kenmore is a charitable organization and that it is making a major effort in providing funds for the purchase of land alone,'' Edenfield said. ``We have high hopes for the preservation of Ferry Farm and the resolution of this situation.''
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