A resolution passed Tuesday night by Blacksburg Town Council could touch off a race between a proposed ordinance that would cap retail square footage and developers of retail projects on the north and south ends of town. 

The resolution proposed by Councilman Don Langrehr and passed 5-2 by the council asks the Planning Commission to fast track consideration of an ordinance that would cap at 80,000 the square footage of retail stores. Developers who wanted to build larger stores would have to ask council for a special use permit, according to the resolution.

Langrehr’s proposal came shortly after an Ohio development company, Fairmount Properties, submitted preliminary site plans for redevelopment of 40 acres on South Main Street. The plan shows a 175,000-square-foot retail building located behind the Gables Shopping Center. According to the plan, that building would comprise four retail stores.

The plan does not identify any tenants but does indicate a retail pharmacy located on the site of the old Lake Terrace Motel and smaller retail buildings scattered across the property.

Langrehr had to argue vigorously to get his resolution, which to the seeming amusement of his council colleagues he once inadvertently referred to as “a revolution,” passed. He likened it to other zoning changes that have been fast-tracked in the past. And he said it was needed to control potential redevelopment of the old Red Lion Inn property and another 50 acres of Virginia Tech property, both located on Prices Fork Road.

Langrehr also pointed out that other towns and cities, especially college towns, have such ordinances, some of them even more restrictive than his proposal.

Councilman and Planning Commissioner Paul Lancaster and Councilman Tom Sherman voted against it. Lancaster said he wanted more time to consider it and pointed out the planning commission is busy with several projects, including a major overhaul of the town’s comprehensive development plan. Sherman said he wanted to see a more detailed study of the pros and cons of the ordinance before making such a strong statement in favor of it.

Councilwoman Mary Holliman, however, said she liked the idea of the ordinance because it would send a message to developers that “we do not welcome Wal-Marts and Home Depots.”

To Langrehr’s surprise and pleasure, Mayor Ron Rordam voted in favor of the resolution after first speaking against it, as did Councilman Al Leighton. “I don’t know if I support the ordinance. But let’s look at it,” Rordam said after the meeting.

Under the resolution, planning commission would take up the ordinance at its April 3 meeting.

In other business, council voted to sell a 32,000-foot public-right-of-way to the owners of Hearthstone Apartments on Hearthstone drive for $25,500. As part of the deal, the owners also have to build an 8-foot public-use asphalt trail across their property. The trail will connect the apartment complex to sidewalks and give easy pedestrian access to the YMCA at Virginia Tech’s headquarters on North Main Street.