Wal-Mart proposal is likely no more

St. Charles officials are poised to close the books on a controversial plan to build a Wal-Mart Supercenter adjacent to Charlestowne Mall.

According to the city, Wal-Mart no longer has an option to buy 30 acres just northwest of the Smith Road-Route 64 intersection, meaning its pending application to build a store there is invalid.

The plan commission is expected to dismiss the proposal at a continued public hearing Tuesday, possibly ending more than a year of wrangling between neighbors and the retail giant.

"This is the step our attorney has told us to take, which is basically get rid of it so we clear up time for other developments in the city," plan commission Chairman Todd Wallace said Thursday.

A Wal-Mart spokesman did not immediately respond late Thursday to questions over what steps the company might take next.

The move shouldn't affect the city's ongoing effort to take 2.88 acres via eminent domain to build a street connecting Foxfield Drive and Smith Road. That legal action is between the city and a DuPage County-based trust that owns the land, city officials said.

Wal-Mart first proposed building the store -- essentially across the street from an existing one -- more than a year ago.

But hundreds of nearby residents bemoaned the project, claiming it would hurt property values, cause traffic problems and be a general nuisance.

Since then, a public hearing on the issue was continued repeatedly and finally came to a halt in February, when the city approved using eminent domain.

Wallace said Wal-Mart appears to have backed away from the proposal in recent months, but officials would give any new proposal fair consideration as he said it did with the last one.

"Certainly, if Wal-Mart wants to come back with another application, we would handle it in the same way," he said.