The Queen Anne's County Board of Commissioners is seething over a flier distributed last week by Wal-Mart officials to county residents. 

The flier, which is an open letter addressed to the "Kent Island community," lists reasons why locals would benefit from the development of a Wal-Mart and provides some history on the company's efforts to build the store on the island. 

The commissioners, however, say the flier is revisionist history and are demanding that company officials send a correction to the same mailboxes. 

"It is a blatant misrepresentation of the actions of the Board of Commissioners," said County Commissioners President George O'Donnell, D-Queenstown, who received the flier last week. 

He said he knows of no Kent Island residents who did, and thinks the flier was sent only to county residents east of Queenstown. 

Wal-Mart Community Affairs official Daphne Davis, who signed the flier, could not be reached for comment. 

For more than a year and a half, Wal-Mart officials have been trying to win county approval to build a store in the proposed Kent Commons shopping center, planned for property at the foot of the Bay Bridge on Route 50. 

The county commissioners, acting as the Sanitary Commission, in November 1999 gave preliminary approval to the project for sewer and water service. But residents who don't want the big-box discount store on their island rallied, and the commissioners in May denied the service. 

The developers then filed a request to overturn the decision, arguing that the commissioners ruled against the project because of concerns about traffic, not the amount of available services. But Judge John Sause in September sided with the commissioners, ruling that the project would use up too much of the island's dwindling sewer service. 

But the flier said that the company last year "won preliminary approval from county engineers, the State Highway Administration and county commissioners to proceed with construction." 

But Mr. O'Donnell said "that is absolutely not true." 

"In Queen Anne's County, you need building permits, site plan approval and sewer allocation before you get approval to move forward with construction," he said. "It's very upsetting that somebody can take such great liberties with the truth." 

Ms. Davis could not be reached for comment. 

The flier further stated that the commissioners, in denying utility service, reversed their preliminary decision to grant it "after (Wal-Mart made) a $1 million investment in the Kent Commons project." 

The angry commissioners at their weekly meeting yesterday penned a response letter to Ms. Davis, explaining a preliminary recommendation by the Sanitary Commission "does not guarantee that the Sanitary Commission will at a later date grant sewer allocation for the proposed use." 

Mr. O'Donnell said the open letter will no doubt come up in the county's ongoing court battle with Wal-Mart officials, who announced in December they would appeal Judge Sause's decision. 

"We're still willing to call (Ms. Davis' statements in the open letter) a mistake ... I'd hate to think it was intentional. But it's difficult to think it was a mistake," he said. 

Published January 24, 2001, The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
Copyright © 2001 The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
 
 
 

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