Opponents of a proposed big-box retail store in Blacksburg got another decision in their favor Tuesday.

Fairmount Properties of Ohio must seek special approval from Blacksburg Town Council for a retail store the company hopes to build along South Main Street in Blacksburg, according to a ruling by town Zoning Administrator Steve Hundley.

Anti-big-box forces planned to celebrate the town's decision Tuesday with drinks, according to traffic on the e-mail list for Blacksburg United for Responsible Growth. Meanwhile, the group's leaders formally praised Hundley's ruling.

"It's exactly what we thought was the right thing to do. It's about as good as we could expect," said BURG steering committee chairman Daniel Breslau.

BURG successfully lobbied the council through petitions, e-mails and overflowing public comment sessions to pass Ordinance 1450, which requires a council-approved special-use permit for any retail building larger than 80,000 square feet. Hundley, explaining his ruling in a heavily appended letter to Fairmount, wrote that the town's recently adopted ordinance will apply to the 40-acre South Main project.

Councilman Don Langrehr proposed 1450 shortly after Fairmount submitted concept plans to the town showing a 186,000-square-foot retail store -- widely thought to be a Wal-Mart Supercenter -- behind Gables Shopping Center. The ordinance passed unanimously May 30.

Jim Cowan, an attorney for Fairmount, said Tuesday that he was not surprised by anything he read in Hundley's ruling, and Fairmount rejects Hundley's opinion.

"It may suit their political position, but it's not legally accurate," Cowan said. "We believe we have vested rights under state law" to build a big-box store, he said.

Fairmount is already pressing those rights in Montgomery County Circuit Court. In May, the company filed a pre-emptive suit asking Judge Bobby Turk to protect its project from the ordinance. Now it's up to the judge to decide how state property right statutes apply to the $45 million South Main development, Cowan said.

Fairmount's suit claims that a rezoning approved by the council in 2006 gave the company "vested rights" under Virginia law to build the big-box store as part of the project without further governmental interference.

According to Hundley's ruling, however, the rezoning and subsequent town reviews of Fairmount's site plans do not meet the legal standards for vested rights. Town Attorney Larry Spencer helped draft the ruling.

Turk is scheduled to hear arguments in the suit July 17.

Breslau, of BURG, said at this point the group is waiting to see what happens with Fairmount's suit before deciding its next move. The group members have also retained a land-use attorney to advise them. Still, members of the group say they could support part of Fairmount's vision for South Main Street, including small, boutique retailers and restaurants, "just not a big-box," BURG legal committee leader Mark Lattanzi said.

Fairmount can also appeal Hundley's ruling to the town's Board of Zoning Appeals.