Wal-Mart will try again for the cityâÂÂs go-ahead to build a Supercenter at the northwest corner of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive.

But the new plan is for a store roughly 20 percent smaller than the one in the companyâÂÂs first, failed proposal.

Store officials said Wednesday they hoped the smaller size would give them a better chance of receiving approval.

âÂÂIt is very close to the commercial square footage that has already been approved for the corner,â said Todd Thompson, a Lawrence attorney representing Wal-Mart. âÂÂItâÂÂs responsive to some of the concerns that were expressed by the planning commission last time.âÂÂ

Like last time, the Wal-Mart plan probably will draw opposition from residents of northwest Lawrence.

âÂÂPeople havenâÂÂt fallen asleep on this,â said Jeanne Newman, who led a petition drive against the first proposal.

Under that plan, the store would have occupied 190,000 square feet Ãi¿½” plus another 9,000 square feet for an outdoor garden center. The store would have included a full-service grocery store and car service center.

That drew fire from neighborhood residents, who said the store would create too much traffic for nearby Free State High School, and an October recommendation for denial from the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission. The store withdrew the proposal in late November, before the Lawrence City Commission could deny it outright.

The new proposal, submitted this week, includes:

⢠Store space of 151,588 square feet, plus 6,378 square feet of garden center. ThatâÂÂs a reduction of more than 40,000 square feet from the earlier plan, and close to the 154,000 square feet of commercial space that already has been approved for the site.

⢠Removal of the auto service center.

⢠A promise for a âÂÂsignificant reductionâ in commercial traffic at the intersection. No specifics were provided.

Under state law, developers who fail to get regulatory approval for their projects must wait a full year to try again — unless they can demonstrate they have made âÂÂsubstantial changeâ to the proposal. The law doesnâÂÂt define âÂÂsubstantialâÂÂ; planning commissioners will decide Dec. 18 whether Wal-MartâÂÂs new proposal is different enough from the first to warrant a fresh hearing. Approval or disapproval of the plans would wait until after the new year.

Newman said smaller wasnâÂÂt necessarily better in her book.

âÂÂWe just feel itâÂÂs an inappropriate use next to the high school,â she said. âÂÂItâÂÂs a qualitative issue, not a quantitative issue. It wouldnâÂÂt matter if the store was 1,000 square feet.âÂÂ

The planning commission meets at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 18.