BROOKSVILLE — County commissioners will be asked Tuesday to approve a settlement that would pave the way for Wal-Mart to build its fourth supercenter in Hernando County, on County Line Road.

In return, the retailer would drop any plans to sue the county over its refusal to allow a Wal-Mart Supercenter on Barclay Avenue.

The application for the supercenter was submitted to the county in November 2006, and in April 2007 the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of the project to the County Commission.

But residents objected to the Barclay site, and commissioners voted unanimously to deny the master plan in May 2007, citing congestion in the densely populated neighborhood north of Spring Hill Drive and concern over the nearness of the project to Powell Middle School.

Wal-Mart took legal action, but then sought relief through mediation. That process has been ongoing.

Under the terms of the proposed settlement, both the county and Wal-Mart would agree that the County Line Road site — 32 acres just east of the Suncoast Parkway — is better suited for a Wal-Mart Supercenter than the Barclay Avenue site.

The settlement would mean that the county staff could approve the proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter on the new site, provided the store has a similar plan to the one proposed at Barclay, which was a 24-hour, 184,954-square-foot store. And the building would have to be consistent with an approved big-box store master plan already approved and in place for the County Line Road site.

The project would also have to meet various development requirements, known as "performance conditions,'' which were set to be a part of that master plan when it was approved by the County Commission in October 2005.

That master plan is set to expire in April 2009, but under the terms of the settlement with Wal-Mart, the county would have to push that timeline out to April 2012. The county would also take the fees already paid for the Barclay site and apply them to the new site.

Other provisions, including a traffic light on County Line Road, are also set out in the settlement proposal.

If the commission approves the settlement, final details for the new Supercenter would be left to county staffers to complete, and no new hearing would be needed before the County Commission, according to county Planning Director Ron Pianta.

Barbara Behrendt can be reached at behrendt@sptimes.com or (352) 848-1434.