Attorneys involved in the contentious case of the Blacksburg big-box store widely thought to be a Wal-Mart Supercenter got a shock at a hearing Wednesday in Richmond.

In a rare moment of candor, Virginia Supreme Court Justice Barbara Milano Keenan told attorneys for the town, Ohio developer Fairmount Properties and activist group BURG that the court would likely grant two appeals seeking to block construction of a 186,000-square-foot store.

Town Attorney Larry Spencer characterized Keenan's comments as rare. Writ panels convene several times a year to consider which appeals filed to the state's highest court will be accepted. It generally takes at least several weeks for the panel to issue a written ruling, Spencer said. The official ruling must still be issued.

Fairmount attorney Jim Cowan declined to comment Wednesday, saying he needed to discuss the day's events with his clients. But if the appeals do go forward as Keenan indicated, construction of the big-box store will surely be delayed for several months.

There are technically two appeals related to the project.

Blacksburg Town Council wants the power to strictly regulate or nix the big-box and has been fighting for that right for more than a year. The council has, however, lost its argument before its own Board of Zoning Appeals and in Montgomery County Circuit Court. Both bodies have ruled that Fairmount has a right to build without further governmental interference.

Members of the anti-Wal-Mart group BURG, or Blacksburg United for Responsible Growth, filed their own appeal in the case hoping to block the big-box store.

The writ panel considered both appeals Wednesday and, according to Spencer, Kennan said both would likely be granted.

A supreme court ruling in this case could set a precedent in Virginia land-use law by clarifying the fuzzy boundary between the rights of localities to regulate zoning and land use and the rights of property owners to develop their land. If the justices reject the appeal, Fairmount can break ground.

This would be the second time in less than two years that the high court has granted an appeal for a Blacksburg case. In 2007, the court ruled that the council could not be held to a 30-year-old annexation agreement that promised public sewer service to residents of the Toms Creek basin.