It’s big, it’s boxy and it’s “ghastly looking” in the words of one resident. Most important of all, it’s coming to Oberlin.

The Oberlin Design Review Subcommittee met on Wednesday and the Planning Commission met on Thursday to review the plans for a Wal-mart to be built in Oberlin. Representatives from Wal-Mart were at both meetings to present their designs.

According to the design submitted on Thursday, the Wal-mart, to be located at the intersection of routes 20 and 58, will cover 155,000 square feet and contain 752 parking spaces.

The planning commission and the design review subcommittee that advises it were not meeting to decide whether Wal-mart should build a store in Oberlin. “The reality of the situation is that Wal-Mart is coming,” Planning Commission member Tony Gaines said. “The best we can do as a planning commission is make sure that we give [Oberlin] the best Wal-mart that laws and rules allow.”

The majority of the discussion was restricted to smaller concerns. Both committee and audience members addressed issues like the height of lights in the parking lot, the accessibility of handicapped parking, and whether or not the detention basin that catches storm runoff would be fenced. Some residents who lived on route 20 had questions about the possible increase in traffic along an already busy route.

Lynn Miggins, president of the firm KS Associates that represents Wal-mart, stressed that those involved were incorporating many of the planning commission’s recommendations, and that “the design meets and in many cases exceeds Oberlin’s design code.”

“We made a public commitment to adjust our presentation to meet the higher standards of Oberlin,” said Wal-Mart representative Ron Belnap. “We want you to feel that we’re serving your needs as a community.”

Many residents used the opportunity to raise concerns about the existence of an Oberlin Wal-Mart in the first place, and brought the information to back them up.

Resident Kirk Ormond brought research to the planning commission that stated, “Wal-Mart’s growth pattern is such that they abandon buildings after seven to ten years, and 10 percent of Wal-Marts in the U.S. stand empty.” He worried that if this happened in Oberlin, the city would have to pay to tear down a huge building.

An Oberlin woman worried that small businesses like Gibson’s and Ben Franklin would be forced to close because of the competition from Wal-Mart. She gave the example of nearby Elyria, whose downtown suffered from the arrival of a Wal-Mart a few years ago.

Although some of the concerns raised were ones that might be heard in any small town, others had a decidedly Oberlin twist. Many residents wanted a “green”, or environmentally-friendly Wal-Mart.

Subcommittee member Steven Douglas cited Oberlin College’s Environmental Science building as proof that it was possible, saying “Oberlin College has developed something incredible. We should look at commercial buildings that do the same thing.”

Oberlin resident Bryan Burgess brought up two Wal-Marts that had been built that incorporated many energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly technologies such as fuel cells, “green” roofs and screens and a system that captures and reuses heat from the building’s compressor system. He also passed out information about a Wal-Mart in California that used daylighting from skylights.

Belnap countered that those buildings were “test” Wal-Marts, and that once the technology was proven,it would be incorporated into other Wal-Marts. Most of the test technology, he said, could not be incorporated into the Wal-Mart that will be built in Oberlin.

Some residents raised the issue of whether it was fair for Oberlin to ask for more advanced environmental technology from Wal-Mart that they had not asked for from other recent buildings, including several college dorms. One went on to suggest that Oberlin go so far as to raise the standards for all new buildings.

Gaines reminded those present that they were not necessarily in the majority.

“The interested people show up,” he said. “Be mindful of people who may not be here tonight who have no concerns about Wal-Mart”.

In the end both the Design Review Subcommittee and the Planning Commission postponed approval or rejection of the designs as a whole, saying that they needed more time and information to make a decision.