Depending on who you talk with, the new Farmer Jack supermarket on Byrne Road near Heatherdowns Boulevard is either the greatest invention since Caller ID or the worst idea since New Coke.

“I think it's a monstrosity,” said Judy Adock, a stylist at The Cutting Room on nearby Glanzman Road.

“To me, it's a welcome change. It will make it a nicer area,” countered Kelle Riley of Joe I. Cooper Florist, which is in the same plaza as the new supermarket.

Farmer Jack of Detroit this year bought three of the four former Churchill's supermarkets, Toledo's last family-owned grocery chain. The Byrne store was the most antiquated of the three, and Farmer Jack decided to carry on with Churchill's plan to replace the store.

The problem was, officials say, that the new Churchill's was expected to be a 35,000-square-foot building. The Farmer Jack under construction is a 54,000-square-foot structure.

“They are trying to fit a modern store on an existing urban site,” said Eugene Naujock, the Toledo City Plan Commission's planning administrator.

“The site appears crowded from Byrne Road, but folks are only driving past it for a few seconds and not living next to it.”

The commission recommended that city council approve the plan, which it did in March.

With construction nearing completion - the store will open in February - some area residents and retailers say they have been surprised by the proximity of the building's 200-foot long east wall to Byrne, a distance of about 30 feet that leaves no room for a landscaped grass buffer.

“I think before they built it they should have gotten some input from people,” said Jack Mixon, owner of Jack's Place, across Byrne from the Farmer Jack. “The first plans I saw had it sitting back farther. All of a sudden it's right up there. They must have gotten through to somebody down there [at the plan commission].”

Said Ms. Adock: “Everybody here is talking about it and saying it looks atrocious.”

District 2 Councilman Rob Ludeman said the store was positioned perpendicular to Byrne, in part, because of the location of a storm sewer that runs beneath the 6.4-acre site. Also, he said, Farmer Jack officials decided to keep the original store open while the store was built, further limiting the options.

Farmer Jack spokesman John Ponzio said the store's location would have remained as is regardless.

“This position is the best, safest position for all of our deliveries,” he said.

Mr. Ludeman said he has heard only a few complaints about the store's size and location and added that few residents turned up at a public hearing this year. By comparison, he said, when Kroger proposed a new store several miles away at Glendale and South Detroit avenues, hundreds of residents fought the project. The store opened in 1998, but the complex has a large landscaped grass mound that shields the structure from Glendale.

“When there is opposition there is a tendency for a developer to take more time,” Mr. Ludeman said.

Most of the concern regarding Farmer Jack came from residents living to the west of the site. Gary Miles of Heatherlawn Drive said his family had tolerated the noise from delivery trucks and air conditioning units at the old Churchill's building for 28 years. With the rear of the new store facing south, toward the residential Golfgate Drive, the problem will be someone else's, he said.

“It's in my backyard, basically, and I've gotten used to it. I wasn't happy with the way Churchill's was. This should be a nice store,” Mr. Miles said.

Farmer Jack has built a fence behind the new building, one of 22 requirements given by the plan commission to gain its approval.

Mr. Ludeman gives Farmer Jack high marks for contributing $36,000 to upgrade the problem signal at the complex's entrance at Byrne and Glanzman Road. By contrast, the city paid $1.1 million for infrastructure improvements to the Kroger site, he said.

Ms. Riley, of Joe Cooper Florist, said Farmer Jack has enhanced the shopping complex by adding sod, shrubs, a sign, and improved lighting.

Joseph Licata, owner of Joseph Licata Jewelers, also in the complex, is a Farmer Jack supporter.

“I think it will make it a viable center,” he said. “I'm looking forward to it.”

Trees have been planted along the store's controversial east wall. Mr. Ponzio said additional landscaping will be done in the spring, after the old store is torn down and snow melts.

“It's a little premature [to judge it]. It will have a different look,” he said.

Mr. Ponzio said Farmer Jack store designs vary from city to city, depending on zoning laws, architectural styles, and other factors.

“Each situation is completely unique,” he said. “We try to make the best use of the place that's available.”

Yet, he added, there was little chance of Farmer Jack building a lesser store on the Byrne Road site.

“No one is building smaller grocery stores that are not state-of-the-art,” he said.

First Published December 17, 2001, 11:39 a.m.