An owner of the land where Wal-Mart wants to build a new store on Tuesday challenged the Lawrence City Commission to end the impasse on the issue — or else force taxpayers to shoulder a giant legal price tag.

“Wal-Mart is not going away,” said Bill Newsome, who along with Doug Compton is a partner in 6Wak Land Investments LLC, the entity that owns the northwest corner of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive.

“We’re in this until the end. If this dispute is still going on one year from now, we’ll be here,” he added. “If it’s going on two years from now, we’ll be here.”

Commissioners offered no comment on or reply to Newsome’s comments Tuesday. A court reporter hired by 6Wak was in the commission chambers, taking down every word that was said.

Instead, commissioners went into executive session to discuss the matter, then voted to charge 6Wak more than $420,000 for street and sewer improvements on Congressional Drive between Sixth Street and Overland Drive. The street improvements are expected to ease access to the 6Wak property once it is developed.

Newsome objected, saying 6Wak agreed to the improvements on the understanding the city would allow development at the corner. That hasn’t happened.

He said 6Wak would file suit to force the city to pay for the street improvements instead.

“Since this commission appears unwilling to uphold its end of the bargain, we have no choice but to seek remedies from the courts,” he said.

6Wak and Wal-Mart filed lawsuits in the spring to force the city to issue permits to build a 132,000-square-foot Wal-Mart and unnamed restaurant at the site. Wal-Mart already has a Lawrence store at 3300 Iowa.

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A Douglas County District Court judge ordered the city to make a yes-or-no decision on the permit requests and to pay 6Wak and Wal-Mart’s legal fees.

Court documents showed the city had to pay Wal-Mart and 6Wak more than $91,400 in legal fees and costs related to satisfy the judge’s ruling.

In August, the city formally rejected applications for permits.

Earlier this month, the Board of Zoning Appeals upheld the decision to deny the permits, saying Wal-Mart was clearly a department store, which is prohibited under terms of the site’s zoning. Wal-Mart said it was a “variety store” permitted by the rules.

Newsome told commissioners that additional legal action would prove even more costly to taxpayers.

“This is an enormous black hole for the taxpayers of Lawrence,” Newsome said. “And that black hole is getting deeper and deeper every day that this dispute goes on.”

City Manager Mike Wildgen said Tuesday night he didn’t have available a running total of the city’s legal fees in the matter.

“This commission has the power to bring this to an end simply and very quickly — and save taxpayers huge amounts of money,” Newsome said. “It’s up to you.”

New lawsuits in the matter could come as soon as this week, Newsome and his attorney, Jim Bowers, said after Tuesday’s meeting.