By Erica Solvig
The Cincinnati Enquirer

DEERFIELD TWP. - The fight to prevent Wal-Mart from building a Supercenter here continued this week, with residents and an attorney for them arguing the property was never intended to have so much retail development.

The zoning concerns were among many issues raised during Monday's township zoning commission session, the second such meeting to discuss the proposed Shoppes of Deerfield development anchored by a 203,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter.

The public input portion wrapped up during the four-hour meeting, though the commission will meet again next month to continue discussing the case.

The proposed retail center, to be built between a Rookwood Commons-type center and Kroger development on Mason-Montgomery Road, continued to draw sharp criticism from residents, who again raised traffic, storm water and quality of life issues. A handful of residents, however, did argue a Wal-Mart would be good for the community because it would create jobs and establish a wider tax base.

Attorney Timothy Mara, who said he is representing more than 40 residents, argued that the commission should vote against the development, mainly because the property was not intended to have this much retail.

When the county originally zoned the property, there was a condition that retail would not exceed 41 percent of the site. But in 1997, when voters approved the township taking over zoning, the map and zoning resolution text did not have any reference to that condition.

Mara and several residents contend that it should still apply.

"The township and the taxpayers have a right to have the developers follow through on that," Mara said. "That 41 percent makes impossible all of what's proposed."

But Wal-Mart's attorney, Joseph Trauth, supported the township law director's opinion that voters only approved a map and text, so those conditions no longer apply.

The new store would be a relocation of the smaller Fields Ertel store. That store is already listed on the company's Web site realty section as being available as of February 2005.

E-mail esolvig@enquirer.com