Wal-Mart's plans to build its first store inside the Perimeter on the site of the old Avondale Mall at the corner of Memorial and Columbia drives is not sitting well with some residents of nearby Avondale Estates.

Last week, front yards throughout the tiny city of 2,609 residents were dotted with Stop Wal-Mart signs, even as city fathers are proceeding with plans to annex the 23-acre property that has been vacant since the mall closed on Dec. 31, 2001.

On Nov. 10, the city of Avondale Estates Planning and Zoning Board will host the first in a series of public hearings at 7 p.m. at the American Legion at 30 Covington Road. Residents opposed to the project plan to wear red shirts in protest.

The hearings will give the public the opportunity to voice their support or disapproval of the move.

Avondale Estates residents who oppose the project say they want to protect their city from the kind of urban encroachment that Wal-Mart brings.

"Avondale Estates is a place of small stores and sidewalks; a place where public and private space overlaps; and a place where we want to raise our children safe from the usual concerns of urban living. Such places are increasingly rare," they say on their website, www.stopwm.com.

They favor the county's plan for the site — a mixed-use development with art venue, restaurants and community stores. It would also include offices, condominiums and town homes.

The county considers the site the southern anchor for its development plans for the Memorial Drive corridor.

Wal-Mart has an agreement to purchase the property from its current owners, Fourth Quarter XXIII LLC, a division of Thomas Enterprises, and wants to build a 203,000-square-foot super center, similar to the one it opened on Fairington Road in July. The Avondale site is one of several that Wal-Mart is rumored to be looking into in DeKalb County.

Glenn Wilkins, Wal-Mart's Southeast community affairs manager, said the company is interested in DeKalb because it is not really servicing the area as much as it would like.

"We are very much interested in opening stores inside the Perimeter and feel there is a huge audience interest," Wilkins said.

An ad hoc committee set up by Avondale Estates to explore the annexation of the mall site voted unanimously in favor of it on Sept. 15. It also voted to rezone the property from mixed-use to commercial, with 33 detailed stipulations. The county had previously rezoned the property in 2003 from commercial to mixed-use. The committee notes that based on a 9.8 percent millage rate, the city would receive a net gain of $639,407 in taxes over the first five years.

District 4 Commissioner Burrell Ellis, whose district includes Avondale Estates, favors a mixed-used development on the site but he has said he won't fight the annexation.

Effective May 13, 2004, cities in Georgia, including DeKalb's six municipalities, no longer need approval from their counties to annex property.