DRY RIDGE — If this is a neighborhood store, when did the giants move to Dry Ridge?

        The Wal-Mart Supercenter here is so cavernous that hundreds of bikes hang in the rafters, too high for normal people to see.

        Customers are getting their hair cut in one area and choosing tomatoes in another. There are sections for eye exams, photo development and shrub shopping.

        In the parking lot on Friday, someone was giving away puppies.

        This humongous bazaar soon may be duplicated in Fort Wright, where a developer is already preparing land near the intersection of Highland and Madison pikes.

        Supercenters are not ordinary Wal-
Marts. The one slated for Fort Wright will cover 204,000 square feet and include a full-service grocery.

        Is this a “neighborhood” store? Judging from what I saw in Dry Ridge, no way.

        But I wonder whether Fort Wright's city leaders will care. Their zoning plan calls for a “neighborhood shopping center” on the land in question. But their law defines such places so vaguely that even a Supercenter is trying to wedge itself in.

        It's a sad state of affairs for opponents of the store. While some Fort Wright residents welcome the convenience of the new store, others are worried about traffic, noise and aesthetics.

        On Oct. 11, they hope to press the “neighborhood shopping center” issue at a public hearing before Fort Wright City Council, which must give final approval to the developer's plans.

        The controversy may be settled on what's left out of the zoning code, which doesn't say much for planning.

        “Neighborhood shopping center” should mean something. But Fort Wright's plan merely states what types of stores are allowed — hair salons, groceries and the like — without addressing their size.

        By contrast, the comprehensive plan for Northern Kentucky suggests such centers should be no more than

        150,000 square feet. It also states that Northern Kentucky doesn't need any more big shopping centers, based on current and projected populations.

        Nevertheless, the Wal-Mart construction is moving ahead. Cities are not strictly bound by the overall plan, which is prepared by the Northern Kentucky Area Planning Commission.

        At the Oct. 11 public hearing, attorney Patrick Hughes hopes to draw attention to the vagueness of Fort Wright's rules. Where details are missing, city commis sioners should refer to the comprehensive plan, says Mr. Hughes, who represents opponents of the Wal-Mart.

        But on the other side, some say the Supercenter is just a collection of smaller stores, all of which are permitted in the neighborhood zone. So what if they're all gathered under one, gargantuan roof?

        But that's just it. The Supercenter is a shopping mecca. That's why people will come from miles around, subverting the peacefulness of Fort Wright.

        At 4 p.m. Friday, I counted license plates in eight rows of parking at the Dry Ridge Wal-Mart. Out of 100 cars, 51 were from Grant County, where the store is. But the rest were divided among 14 other counties in Kentucky and two in Ohio.

        Make no mistake: This is regional shopping. It can't be what Fort Wright intended. Whether that will be enough to stop the bulldozers is another question.

        E-mail ksamples@enquirer.com.

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