After two hours of debate, the Roanoke County Planning Commission voted 4-1 Tuesday in favor of zoning changes that will allow the construction of a Wal-Mart Supercenter in the Clearbrook area.

The issue will now go to the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors on Oct. 24 for final consideration.

Holrob Investments of Tennessee sought the rezoning and special-use permit to develop a 43-acre site that it is marketing to Wal-Mart for a store that would be more than 200,000 square feet. Mary Ellen Goodlatte, the company's lawyer, said the final details of that contract are still being worked out.

Much of the evening's discussion centered upon what became the key issue at a community meeting on the proposal three weeks ago: traffic. Specifically, residents along Stable Road, which borders the property, want to keep cars coming out of the proposed parking lot for the retailer from using their road as a shortcut to U.S. 220 North.

Developer Bud Collum assured the commissioners that his firm would continue to work with residents on a solution that is satisfactory to them and still acceptable to Wal-Mart.

Commissioners also expressed concerns about buffering the view from the Blue Ridge Parkway, as well as neighboring roads, which Collum and Goodlatte said would be addressed as well.

The county's planning staff report on the plan noted that "The surrounding neighbors as well as visitors traveling the Blue Ridge Parkway have views of the site," which it suggested the commissioners insist be addressed.

Goodlatte noted that a letter praising the developers' cooperation with the parkway was included in the commissioners' information packets. And she noted that the buffers around the site will include mature, 10-foot tall evergreens as well as other plants that will grow to provide a "natural" view.

Chris Alouf, a Clearbrook resident, offered a list of 11 desired proffers or conditions and a petition signed by many of the 50 or so in attendance at the meeting. They included wider setbacks, thicker tree coverage in buffer zones, limitations on trash collection and idling trucks, and no overnight hours at the auto-repair shop.

Those were not imposed by the commissioners, and planner David Holladay noted that some of them might not be enforceable. The commission, however, forwarded them to the board of supervisors to consider at its meeting.

Several people, including nearby residents, spoke in favor of the changes and praised Wal-Mart as a good neighbor whose presence will be good for the county and for the Clearbrook community.

Clearbrook Lane resident Donald Minnix said he did not "know any other developer who could provide the benefits Wal-Mart can," a sentiment that raised a murmur of apparent disagreement in the audience.

A similar-sized Wal-Mart in the Bonsack section of Roanoke County contributes $1.2 million a year in various taxes to Roanoke County. Most of that comes from the county's 1-cent share of the 5 percent state sales tax collected at the store.

A Wal-Mart just a mile north of the Clearbrook site, on U.S. 220 in Roanoke, is expected to close when the new store opens.

Commissioners addressed a host of concerns that linger over the project -- its proximity to Clearbrook Elementary School across the street, two large retention ponds that will front right on U.S. 220, the color and height of retention walls, and the potential for overnight parking by campers on the parking lot.

In the end, however, only Hollins District Commissioner Gary Jarrell voted against a positive recommendation for the plan. "I feel that we need more answers here," he said.

In other action, the commissioners recommended approval of a study of water and sewer extensions to Explore Park. A staff report noted that future development of the site is contingent on the accessibility of water and sewer to the site. That, in turn, faces several obstacles that presumably will be the subject of developer Larry Vander Maten's study, including the question of whether and how such lines could cross the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The board also endorsed the rezoning of a 4.5-acre parcel on U.S. 460 in the Bonsack area to allow the construction of a CVS pharmacy with a drive-through.