It will probably be the first quarter of 2007 before ground is broken for a new Wal-Mart Supercenter in Roanoke County, the site developer says.

"Right now the real hard work comes," said Robyn Askew, vice president of Tennessee-based Holrob Investments.

The Roanoke County Board of Supervisors approved a special-use permit Tuesday that allows the construction of the 203,000-square-foot store behind a group of luxury car dealerships just south of the Blue Ridge Parkway on U.S. 220.

While the company has done extensive surveying, geotechnical investigation and environmental assessment on the Clearbrook site, "definitive information" will be compiled in the next couple of months, Askew said Friday.

The developer's "major task" is to come up with a plan to realign Stable Road, the primary entrance to the store, that satisfies the Virginia Department of Transportation, nearby residents and Wal-Mart, Askew said.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Laurie Smalling said Friday that it's too early to know when the store will open, but plans discussed last week forecast a 2008 opening.

"We will grade the site, put in utilities and infrastructure, then sell Wal-Mart's pad and parking spaces to Wal-Mart," Askew said. Holrob will continue to own and develop the rest of the 42-acre site.

Smalling confirmed that, as expected, opening the new store will result in the closing of a smaller existing store about a mile north on U.S. 220 in Roanoke.

Smalling said the company leases the existing store site and would negotiate with the owner about moving when that time comes. City tax records, however, indicate the building is owned by "Wal-Mart Stores Inc."

As of Friday, the company listed almost 300 similar locations available for lease or sale around the country. Three of them are in Virginia, including locations in Bedford County and Norton.

Some critics contend the company often leaves those sites vacant for years, obstructing the location of competitive retailers and depressing local economies. Smalling said the company's "real estate team is actively marketing those properties we own and that we have leases that are still available."

The retailer's reputation was among the issues raised at Tuesday's public hearing. But Hollins District Supervisor Richard Flora said, "if you're just up here because you don't like Wal-Mart, you've lost me. It's not our job to tell them whether they can have a Wal-Mart or a shoe store or Home Depot."

Flora said he concluded that the special-use permit adequately protected a site that was appropriate for the store.

During hearings before the county's planning commission and supervisors, the biggest issues have been traffic, buffering the view of the building from neighbors and the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the appropriateness of allowing a big-box retailer to build in an area with special zoning designed to encourage smaller commercial enterprises preserving a "village" character.

Board Chairman Michael Wray, whose Cave Spring District includes the Clearbrook community, began the public hearing Tuesday by acknowledging that there has been controversy concerning his participation in the decision.

"There has been some thought that I should not vote on this, that I have a conflict of interest because I once owned land in the area" where the Wal-Mart will go. He sold that property "well before this rezoning and special-use application was filed," Wray said.

After consulting with County Attorney Paul Mahoney, Wray said they concluded "I do not have a conflict of interest. I do not have any financial interest or any personal interest in the decision, and I will vote," Wray said.

None of the speakers Tuesday challenged Wray's participation.

Reflecting a concern that was raised by numerous speakers, Catawba District Supervisor Butch Church said increased traffic on U.S. 220 just yards from the entrance to Clearbrook Elementary School was the key to his lone vote against the rezoning and special-use permit.

It all came down to "safety, safety, safety, safety," he said.

Church acknowledged that Holrob Investments had "gone over backwards to meet every legitimate concern, but that's not the issue. We've got a dangerous situation out there on 220, it's been dangerous for many years, and all this can do is make it worse."

Vinton District Supervisor Michael Altizer disagreed. He noted the testimony of county staff and the developers that 60 percent of the traffic coming to the store will not pass the school.

"There's no doubt there's increased traffic on 220," Altizer said, "but nowhere have I seen from VDOT ... that have they said, 'you better not do this or you're going to kill people or have terrible accidents.' "

Altizer and Windsor Hills Supervisor Joe McNamara also contended that although the store is four times as large as the 50,000-square-foot maximum encouraged by the 6-year-old Clearbrook Village District Overlay zoning regulations, they believe those restrictions worked.

"The back of this Wal-Mart looks as good as the front of many strip malls we have in Roanoke County today," McNamara said. "It all boils down to, is it appropriate for this commercial area. I think it fits the overlay district."

"To me, the overlay has worked," Altizer said, with Wal-Mart accepting restrictions on height, colors, lighting, landscaping, its facade and even abandoning the traditional deep blue in its signs in favor of "forest green."

And, Wray threatened the developers, "if there's anything less than what is required, any balk" in complying with the special-use permit requirements, "you don't go. You'll be the first one to be shut down."