Blacksburg Town Council and developers of the town's First & Main shopping center are set to face off Jan. 15 before the Virginia Supreme Court over a big-box store thought to be a Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Each side will get 20 minutes to argue its case, according to letter from Supreme Court clerk Patricia Harrington. Several briefs have already been filed in the case, which some experts have said could set precedent in Virginia land-use law.

The council is asking the court to affirm its power to strictly regulate or nix Fairmount's 186,000-square-foot big-box store proposed for several acres at South Main Street and Country Club Drive.

But the council has so far lost its argument before its own board of zoning appeals and a Montgomery County Circuit Court judge. Both have ruled that a 2006 rezoning approved by the council gives Fairmount a "vested right" under state law to build without further interference.

Members of the anti-Wal-Mart group Blacksburg United for Responsible Growth have filed their own appeal in the case seeking to regulate or block the store.

Three separate cases related to the big-box dispute -- the council's formal appeal of both the zoning board's decision and the circuit court ruling and the BURG appeal -- have been consolidated for this hearing, Town Attorney Larry Spencer said.

The briefs filed include a friend of the court brief signed by attorneys for the Virginia Municipal League, the Virginia Association of Counties and other groups.

Although the case will be heard next month, the ruling likely won't be handed down until March, Spencer wrote in an e-mail.

The last high court case involving the town was in 2007, when the council won the right to disregard a 1973 annexation agreement promising public sewer service to residents of the Toms Creek basin.