It's confirmed. The case of the Blacksburg big-box store will go to the Virginia Supreme Court.

Blacksburg Town Attorney Larry Spencer was notified Thursday that the state's highest court will hear the case. No hearing date has yet been set.

The town and legal adversary Fairmount Properties of Ohio each have about a month to file briefs in the case, Spencer wrote in an e-mail.

Blacksburg Town Council wants the power to strictly regulate or nix Fairmount's proposed 186,000-square-foot big-box store widely thought to be a Wal-Mart Supercenter.

The council has lost its argument before its Board of Zoning Appeals and in Montgomery County Circuit Court. Both have ruled that a 2006 rezoning gives Fairmount a "vested right" to build without further interference.

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

Read the Virginia Supreme Court notification letter at the New River Notebook blog at newrivervalley.com.

-- Tonia Moxley