Wal-Mart Sues Volusia County on Rejected New Smyrna Beach Site

ORLANDO-Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the largest corporation in the United States based on annual sales, is taking on Volusia County government in a courtroom battle that could wind up costing the county $1 million to defend itself, area real estate lawyers tell GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity.

At issue is a 10-acre, environmentally sensitive site on the outskirts of New Smyrna Beach, 50 miles northeast of Downtown Orlando. Wal-Mart badly wants that location at State Road 44 and east of Interstate 95 for an estimated 250,000-sf, $32 million supercenter. About 200 new jobs are at stake.

But Volusia County commissioners, ignoring their own staff’s report favoring Wal-Mart and bowing to community pressure, rejected Wal-Mart’s plans at a public meeting June 20. Residents maintain the proposed development site on wetlands should be preserved and not used for commercial purposes.