LUTZ — A proposed 24-hour big-box store got mixed reviews from neighbors this week.

Colonial Properties Trust has the zoning to build a big-box store on the north side of Bearss Avenue, just east of Nebraska Avenue. But the county's approval from 2003 restricted the store's hours, and the company says the project won't work with that restriction.

To control noise and glare, it would screen the neighborhood with a wall, a pond and a landscaped buffer, would restrict the hours for truck-loading and put parking lot lights on poles about half the normal height.

Barbara Fite, who turned in 105 letters of opposition from neighbors, said residents worked hard to get protections from the county four years ago.

"They want to throw out everything we've worked for," she said at a zoning hearing Monday. County commissioners are scheduled to hear the request Dec. 9.

Retired firefighter John Salgado welcomed redevelopment of the 30 acres, an old citrus grove and fruit-packing plant now home to a driving range.

"Anything's going to be an improvement," he said. "The place is an eyesore."

— Richard Danielson, Times staff writer