Wal-Mart apparently will not be building a supercenter in Clearbrook after all.

Roanoke County Administrator Elmer Hodge said Tuesday afternoon that residents of the area where the store had been planned and an unnamed representative of the Knoxville, Tenn.-based developer of the site told him the project has been canceled.

Calls to Wal-Mart and to developer Holrob Investments were not immediately returned Tuesday evening.

Hodge said he was told that letters are to go out later this week to property owners whose homes and land had been optioned by Holrob.

He said his information was that Wal-Mart has renewed a lease for an existing standard-sized store just a mile north on U.S. 220 in Roanoke, which was to have been replaced by the new supercenter.

Although the development plan faced some vocal opposition, and had to withstand a court challenge, Hodge said his understanding was that general economic conditions were to blame for the decision.

"Whether they'll reconsider in the long range, we don't know," he said.

While the county faces the loss of an estimated $1.2 million a year in tax revenue from the store, Hodge said he was more concerned at the moment with "the impact on citizens who had contracts on their property and who already had made other arrangements. It's very unfortunate for them."

He also noted that a series of needed improvements to the busy intersection of Buck Mountain Road with U.S. 220 are now in limbo because the developer won't be proceeding with construction. "We don't have the money and the state doesn't have the money" to make the planned improvements, the costs of which the developer would have borne.

"We don't know if we're back to ground zero, or if there might be another company willing to move in." Hodge noted that the property has already been rezoned and granted the special-use permit to accommodate a large retail center.

And, he said, if the economy does begin to turn around, "it would be unfortunate if they are pulling out sooner than is necessary."

For opponents of the project, however, the news was joyous.

"I'm as elated as they come," said Pamela Berberich, a political activist in the county who was a plaintiff -- and primary financial supporter -- of the lawsuit.

She and a group of residents who live near the site alleged that the county hadn't followed its own procedures when it approved the zoning changes allowing the development.

Although that strategy failed, she said she doesn't regret spending the money. "Everybody told me that what I was doing was fruitless, but maybe my efforts came to pass after all."

The proposed project was a lightning rod for criticism as soon as it was announced -- although it also had much support, especially among those whose property was going to be purchased for development.

The core of the opposition was related to a special zoning designation for the area approved in 2001 called the Clearbrook Village Overlay District. Its intent, according to its introduction, was "to promote future development that is consistent with the current character of Clearbrook."

It discouraged strip malls in favor of smaller mom-and-pop type businesses, and emphasized landscaping, and controlled lighting and signs.

But it also contains a provision that Holrob took advantage of: "A special use permit shall be required for any retail use or development that exceeds fifty thousand (50,000) square feet of gross floor area."

After a public hearing that ran well after midnight on Oct. 25, 2006, the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors gave approval to such a special-use permit allowing a planned 203,000-square-foot supercenter.

The legal bid to stop the project failed in both circuit court and the state court of appeals.

Although the developers initially had said they hoped the store would be open by the spring of 2008, no work ever began as they wrangled with county officials over designing an appropriate vehicular entrance to the site, which is across from Clearbrook Elementary School.