The Corridor 44 Civic Association plans to appeal Volusia Circuit Court Judge Edwin P.B. Sanders' ruling to the 5th District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach, FL.

The activists' main argument will center on the retailer's plans to build the estimated $12.5 million store among 200-year-old oak trees and other endangered botanical species and wildlife on State Road 44, one mile from an existing Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart sued the county after elected officials rejected the retailer's construction plans in June 2001 on grounds the store wasn't compatible with the surrounding wetlands area. Wal-Mart officials couldn't be reached at GlobeSt.com's publication deadline. But Volusia area brokers, intimate with the retailer's plans, tell GlobeSt.com "there is a possibility Wal-Mart may look for another site, given the amount of local opposition to the project."

Meanwhile, five miles away in neighboring Orange City, FL, Wal-Mart indirectly figures in another potential controversy involving West Palm Beach, FL-based Goodman Cos. Goodman plans to buy 27 acres to develop a power retail center at a fast-developing site at the northwest corner of Veterans Memorial Parkway and Harley Strickland Boulevard where an existing Wal-Mart is located.

Orange City officials contend the area is becoming too commercial and want Goodman to devote at least 20% of its project to shelter ventures, similar to Winter Park Village in Winter Park, FL, an Orlando suburb. Goodman senior vice president/development John Dowd says that concept may be too ambitious for the company to undertake at this time.