Blacksburg town officials were informed Friday morning by letter that Circuit Judge Bobby Turk rejected the Blacksburg town council's effort to regulate the building of a big-box store. The store, which is widely believed to be a Wal-Mart Supercenter, will be located on Country Club Drive next to Margaret Beeks Elementary School.

Town attorney Larry Spencer discussed the case.

"The judge's ruling was that he felt like the developers had enough rights in their project because of the way they pushed forward with it," Spencer said. "They were so far along with their project that they were not covered by this new ordinance."

Ordinance 1450 is a new ordinance designed to give the town council more control over the kind of retail development that occurs in Blacksburg. The ordinance makes it harder for big-box retailers, such as Wal-Mart, to move into town. It requires special council approval for any retail building larger than 80,000 square feet.

Fairmount Properties of Ohio later filed suit asking Turk to block the town council from applying the ordinance to its project.

Spencer is planning to confer with the town council on the possibility of appealing the case to the Supreme Court of Virginia.

If this case goes before the Supreme Court, the case could set a precedent on governmental handling of development.

"I'm certainly going to discuss appealing this," Spencer said. "You don't automatically get an appeal, but this is a very interesting case, and the Supreme Court could grant us an appeal. Unfortunately, if they say no to the appeal, it's the end of the game."

Tech students have mixed feelings about a possible Wal-Mart in the college town.

"It's a little over the top and not necessary at all," said Phil Maloney, a senior aerospace and ocean engineering major. "There is one right over in Christiansburg that you can just hop in your car and go to."

Keith Nicholson, a freshman civil engineering major, feels that having a Wal-Mart in Blacksburg would have its pros and cons.

"It'd be convenient, but at the same time, it would also damage the small- town feel," Nicholson said.

Sophomore communication major Dawn Rowley feels differently.

"I am a frequent shopper of Wal-Mart just like a majority of college students," Rowley said. "Having a Wal-Mart in Blacksburg doesn't just let students buy all their supplies and necessities, but it will also provide jobs.

Having it just around the corner will save gas and money, and if people are concerned about the downtown shops going out of business, most likely they won't. Most of those stores are specialty stores and do not provide 'everything' like Wal-Mart will."