It has been sitting on the Blacksburg town government's Web site all along: Apparent confirmation that Fairmount Properties of Ohio plans to build a Wal-Mart Supercenter along South Main Street.

There, in the lower left corner of a site plan document, reads: "Wal-Mart summary."

For months, opponents have suspected that a 186,000-square-foot retail store shown on site plans submitted to the town in March is a Wal-Mart.

Fairmount principal Adam Fishman said again Thursday he could not comment on the identity of the big-box store planned for the site. On Friday, Wal-Mart spokeswoman Kelly Hobbs confirmed that the company is considering a site in Blacksburg but said she could not announce any specific projects or store openings.

Community activists and reporters have for weeks combed the site plan documents looking for clues to the identity of the superstore. But it took a routine review by the Blacksburg Planning and Engineering Department to find a tiny reference to the retailer buried in one of the plan's dozens of documents. They occupy an entire section of the town's Web site.

The anti-Wal-Mart forces that have been fighting the project in town hall and in the streets of Blacksburg were not surprised by the find. Daniel Breslau, chairman of the steering committee for Blacksburg United for Responsible Growth, said the group has compared Fairmount's big-box site plan with Wal-Mart site plans and aerial photos of the stores from all over the country.

"We're convinced based on that, that it can only be a Wal-Mart Supercenter," Breslau said. "But for those who were skeptical, now it's there in black and white."

The news hit fast. As early as 9:39 a.m. Thursday, some BURG members were aware of the site plan's listing of Wal-Mart on a "lighting plan" for the entire 40-acre "First & Main" development. That was very soon after Blacksburg Town Manager Marc Verniel reported it to town council members, Verniel said.

But to build such a store, Fairmount and the retailer must first find a way through, or around, Ordinance 1450. Passed unanimously May 30 by the council, the ordinance requires developers of any retail store larger than 80,000 square feet to apply for a special-use permit.

That step gives the council the power to strike down such a project, or to impose conditions on it as they see fit. But the final say may come from the courts. Right now, a lawsuit is in the hands of Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Bobby Turk.

Fairmount and its partners have asked the court to protect the project from the new ordinance. Fairmount's attorneys argue that the right to build a superstore was cemented last year when the council approved a rezoning that paved the way for the project. They say the rezoning trumps the new ordinance.

Turk heard arguments in the case Tuesday but made no ruling. The next hearing is scheduled for July 17. But Town Attorney Larry Spencer said he would be surprised if the town and its hired consultants from Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore in Roanoke were ready to argue the case by then.

In the meantime, Blacksburg Zoning Administrator Steve Hundley is expected to make a ruling this month on whether the ordinance can be applied to Fairmount's project. That ruling could make the lawsuit moot, or it could add fuel to the debate.

On the Web: www.blacksburg.gov/enews/south_main