Botetourt County officials decided Monday to wait until June before proceeding with the possibility of creating a zoning ordinance to govern the design of big-box retailers that may want to locate in the county.

During a work session Monday night at the Botetourt County Courthouse in Fincastle, the county's planning commission and planning department personnel agreed to gather and review similar ordinances from localities throughout the country to help in their decision process.

Commission members will also consult with members of the county's board of supervisors to gauge their interest in regulating the large retailers.

Typically, localities with zoning aimed at stores such as Wal-Mart, Lowe's and Home Depot require developers to conform to a range of parking, lighting, landscaping and building facade specifications. The effort is designed to improve the aesthetics of the stores so they don't look like a big box.

A number of large retailers are located on the fringe of the county's borders. A 65,000-square-foot Gander Mountain store opened recently near Interstate 81 in North Roanoke County. A few miles away in Bonsack, in Roanoke County, the largest Kroger grocery store in the valley is expected to open this summer in an 84,000-square-foot building on U.S. 460 East.

As Botetourt's population continues to grow and attract more services, the presence of mega-retailers coming to the county appears more likely.

Chuck Supan, Botetourt's director of planning, said a review of the county's current commercial buildings shows the average size is about 5,600 square feet. That could indicate that the county may need to look at regulating proposed buildings starting anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 square feet and up.

Amsterdam District planning commission member Chris Whitely said it would be prudent to establish firm guidelines to discourage developers from submitting cookie-cutter designs that won't be acceptable in Botetourt.

"If we're looking for something different as a locality, then people need to know that coming in," he said. "I'd just as soon say that upfront."

Not all localities have welcomed the big retailers, some with stores that can be as large as 200,000 square feet.

Citizens groups recently opposed Wal-Mart stores in Roanoke County and Blacksburg, saying the large facilities are out of character with their communities.

Botetourt hopes to avoid those types of problems.

"I think being a little proactive will keep you out of some of those tight spots," Supan said.

Currently, the county's code requires developers to get a special-use permit for buildings more than 20,000 square feet in areas of the county zoned for business development. Other localities have special permit requirements aimed at buildings more than 50,000 square feet that address large-scale retailers.