Twenty-one landowners affiliated with a local anti-Wal-Mart group will ask the Virginia Supreme Court to stop construction of a big-box store in Blacksburg.

Blacksburg United for Responsible Growth, or BURG, announced Thursday that the group, using donations, will fund a resident appeal of Ohio developer Fairmount Properties' plan to build a 186,000-square-foot store on 4 acres along Country Club Drive.

The name of the big-box tenant has not been announced, but it is widely thought that Wal-Mart hopes to build a "supercenter" store there. According to a news release, residents have pledged about $17,000 to the BURG appeal. The group will be represented by Richmond land-use attorney Philip Strother.

The landowners had earlier joined the town council in a Montgomery County Circuit Court challenge of Fairmount's right to build the store. The council had hoped to apply the recently passed Ordinance 1450 to the project. The ordinance requires special council approval for any retail building larger than 80,000 square feet.

Judge Bobby Turk ruled in January that under state law the new ordinance could not be applied to Fairmount's project. Shortly after, the council signaled that it would appeal Turk's ruling to the state's highest court.

-- Tonia Moxley