It will be a toe in the water exercise.

A new group of city commissioners on Tuesday will be testing their comfort level with the idea of a Wal-Mart store at Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive.

Commissioners will discuss a proposal to build a 99,985-square-foot Wal-Mart store at the northwest corner of the intersection, but they won’t be taking any votes to approve or deny the plans.

“I think we’re at a critical stage with this project,” Mayor Sue Hack said. “We really need to have the opportunity to hear from the applicants, and they need to have the opportunity to hear from the sitting commissioners.”

The meeting will be the first time the City Commission has looked at the proposal since Rob Chestnut and Mike Dever joined following the April 3 elections. It also is the first time the City Commission has dealt with the issue since both the city and the developers agreed in early April – just days after the election – to delay a lawsuit alleging that the city illegally denied a building permit for the store.

Hack said the meeting should give some sense of whether the new City Commission has more interest in the project than the previous one. Both Chestnut and Dever replaced commissioners who voted against the development. The Wal-Mart plan was denied on a 3-2 vote in October. Both Hack and City Commissioner Mike Amyx supported the plan, and remain on the City Commission. Commissioner Boog Highberger is the lone remaining commissioner who voted against the project.

Bill Newsome – who along with Lawrence businessman Doug Compton owns the proposed Wal-Mart site – said that they have an interest in resolving the issue at City Hall rather than in a courtroom.

“We’ll be there to listen, and we’ll be there to answer questions,” Newsome said. “We would like to see the matter resolved amicably.”

Newsome said he hopes the City Commission will encourage the developers to submit a plan for the site that commissioners would approve.

Hack said that could be a possibility, but said that any new plan would have to be reviewed by the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission before it could be considered by the City Commission.

Commissioners and developers have until Sept. 16 to try to work out a deal. Douglas County District Court Judge Michael Malone has delayed the start of the trial in the lawsuit against the city until then. The trial was set to begin on April 16, until both sides agreed to ask for a delay.

Neighbors of the proposed site have opposed the plans. Harris Tate, the newly elected president of the West Lawrence Neighborhood Association, said there’s still strong concern that the store will overwhelm Sixth Street with traffic and will cause vehicles to cut through the neighborhood.

“There hasn’t been much change in our opinion,” Tate said. “The issues are still traffic and the safety of the children in the neighborhood.”

Commissioners also have been lobbied to deny the project based on concerns that Lawrence’s retail market already is overbuilt.

Hack said she expects both traffic and retail market concerns to be significant parts of Tuesday’s discussion. But she said she doesn’t want the conversation to turn into a debate about Wal-Mart and its practices.

“It will be a vigorous look at the plan,” Hack said. “But I also want people to understand this is a land-use issue. We’re not going to be addressing the pros and cons of a particular retailer. I’m not going to accept those type of comments.”

Commissioners will meet at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, Sixth and Massachusetts streets.