The transformation of Clearbrook from a rural community below the Blue Ridge Parkway to a Roanoke County retail growth zone may accelerate if plans to build a new Wal-Mart Supercenter materialize.

The deal, which might lead to the closing of the 17-year-old Wal-Mart store just to the north in Roanoke, has yet to be officially embraced by the retailer and has several regulatory hurdles to clear.

But it stands to have a significant influence on the suburban community where it may rise, as well as shift a major source of revenue out of Roanoke and into the county.

Representatives of Knoxville, Tenn.-based Holrob Investments and Cullom Properties met with Clearbrook residents last week to talk about plans for a huge retail project on 40 acres across from Clearbrook Elementary School.

That marked the first time anyone confirmed that the proposed project involved Wal-Mart, which is routinely tight-lipped about plans for new stores.

Laurie Smalling, Wal-Mart's manager of public affairs, Tuesday would only say that "we are interested in looking at other sites and locations in the Roanoke area" but would not confirm interest specifically in the Clearbrook site.

Robyn Askew, vice president of Holrob Investments, said Tuesday that partner Bud Cullom is "real close" to completing negotiations with Wal-Mart to build on the site.

"I feel very hopeful," he said. "We're spending an enormous amount of money" on the project.

A giant retail store would anchor Holrob's site plan, but it also would be fronted by parcels that could be sold to other businesses, such as restaurants.

All that spells tax revenue, even though Roanoke County officials insisted that won't affect decisions on the special-use permit that Wal-Mart would need or the rezoning of three other parcels.

Director of Economic Development Doug Chittum said he has not calculated the tax revenue such a site would generate, but that he knows it's "not unusual for those types of stores to do $100 million in gross sales," which would translate into $1 million in taxes for a locality such as Roanoke County. With additional businesses from other development on the site, the total could easily exceed $2 million annually, he said.

The Wal-Mart Supercenter in Bonsack on the eastern edge of the county on U.S. 460 generates about $1.2 million a year in real estate, personal property, sales and business, professional and occupational license taxes, said Diane Hyatt, the county's chief financial officer.

About 70 percent of that comes from the 1 cent of the state sales tax that is returned to localities, she said.

Roanoke Director of Finance Jesse Hall estimated that the Wal-Mart Supercenter at Valley View Mall generates a similar amount -- almost $1.1 million -- for the city each year, as well.

Should the Clearbrook store become a reality, Wal-Mart likely would close its discount store at Hunting Hills Plaza. That store is about half the size of a superstore and generates about half as much revenue for the city -- roughly $502,000, Hall estimated.

While that won't break the city's $240 million budget, it does have an effect.

Chittum noted that tax revenues from a development such as the one slated for Clearbrook "could theoretically pay the debt service for a school."

It's been two years since Holrob obtained its first contract on the main parcel off U.S. 220 south of Roanoke, Askew said. The site involves 13 different parcels, 11 of which still have families living on them.

She's hoping for a quick resolution to the process now, in large part because "there's only so much those residents are willing to take in terms of uncertainty, and we need to get the store open while it's known what the costs are."

That can't happen until two public hearings are held -- the first scheduled before the county planning commission on Oct. 3 and another before the board of supervisors on Oct. 24.

The development lies within a special zoning district called the Clearbrook Village Overlay that places restrictions on development. "It may be the toughest district in Roanoke County, maybe the state," said Clearbrook Civic League President Randy Kingery.

"It sets guidelines for building exteriors, height, signage, lights, landscaping," he said. And, so far, he said, everyone associated with the project is talking about meeting those standards -- with the notable exception of the size of the building. The supercenter would be 200,000 square feet, or four times larger than the 50,000-square-foot limit called for in the overlay district.

"Some folks have said we're doing away with the overlay," County Administrator Elmer Hodge said this week. "But they're complying with the overlay" by seeking the special-use permit it allows, Hodge said.

"All of us hoped for more of a type of development that is close to the school" in style and size, Hodge said, things like doctor's offices, sit-down restaurants and small office buildings.

With the downturn in the economy after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the decision by the state not to relocate its Department of Motor Vehicles office to that area shortly thereafter, the community was left open to other types of development, he said.

In 2003, a group of automobile dealerships moved in and suddenly the location "really lent itself to a larger retailer with the money to come in and do a master plan."

The site is already accessible to water and sewer, and Clearbrook Village Lane, built in 2004, will provide the primary access. So far, neither Wal-Mart nor Holrob has sought any incentives to build on the site, Chittum said.

Although enthusiasm for the project seems widespread, not everyone is thrilled with the prospect of a giant retail development in Clearbrook.

Glenn Muncy, 32, grew up just south of the site on Clearwood Drive. "I think it's kind of silly" to think another Wal-Mart is needed in the area, he said. "We already have one everywhere you turn."

Muncy is the father of a 6-year-old son who attends Clearbrook Elementary, across the street from the site of the new development. "There's going to be some bad traffic," which he fears will endanger children as well as shoppers.

Hollie Alouf lives on Singing Hills Road, directly behind where the new store is scheduled to go up.

"If they do what they say they're going to do, then we're really not going to be able to see much of the Wal-Mart at all," Alouf said. But, "our fear is that they are telling us what we want to hear, so we won't go against their request for a special-use permit" but will later violate its provisions.

She hopes that street and highway plans, which still must be approved by the Virginia Department of Transportation, will eventually isolate her residential community from the commercial traffic.

Kingery agreed that traffic was probably the No. 1 concern in the community, and one of the elements that "will really change the Clearbrook area."

Still, he believes the developers "went out of their way to accommodate the Clearbrook community," designing an unconventional "beautiful building" that doesn't look like a "big box" store and follows the community zoning overlay.

Gary Johnson, chief planner for the Blue Ridge Parkway, agreed. The developers began talking to parkway personnel as long as two months ago. "At this point, it sounds to me like they were listening to what we asked them to do ... to think of ways to mitigate the view from the parkway."