MADISON, Wis. -- The Fitchburg City Council gave a thumbs up at its Tuesday night meeting to proposal to build a SuperTarget in the city.

The approval comes four years after the big-box development was first proposed to the city, WISC-TV reported.

After years of work and controversy, Fitchburg's city administrator said "all the planets lined up" and the council singed off on the development's major pieces.

This action clears the way for a $57-million retail center to be anchored by SuperTarget.

The entire project, called Orchard Pointe, sits just off Verona Road on the far southwest side of the city, alongside County Highway PD.

Officials said that there are still technical issues to iron out in the proposal, but the city has agreed to the cornerstone of the 100-acre development by approving four different actions that pave the way for building of the second-largest SuperTarget in the state.

Construction had already begun at a Wingra quarry off Highway PD, but with last major pieces finalized, the push is on to prepare the site by next month so that workers can start building the 174,000 square-foot store, WISC-TV reported.

Jim Spahr, one of three main developers, said that the project has been a long time coming.

"It's almost more relief than excitement," Spahr said. "The excitement will come. We're really proud of what we've been able ... to pull together with Fitchburg and all the different owners that we have here."

The Orchard Pointe development has 14 property owners who will be affected in some way and seven developers, WISC-TV reported.

City administrator Tony Roach said that the new store will offer something new to residents.

"There are a lot of Fitchburg residents looking forward to being able to shop in Fitchburg, and I think that the Target store will bring a lot of those types of amenities to Fitchburg," Roach said.

Spahr said that plans currently call for the store to open by next summer.

"We're certainly committed to opening the store (by July 2007), so we've got our work cut out for us," he said. "The redevelopment of a quarry takes a lot of work, a lot of time and hopefully, a lot of good weather between now and the end of the year."

Higher traffic volume was a major issue in the development plan. A city-sponsored traffic study said that the development will add another 835 more car trips to the area everyday. To ease concerns, developers said that they will extend Fitchrona Road through the development to an entrance on Highway PD. A city agreement calls for them to get reimbursed $3.5 million through tax incremental financing.

City officials said that 2.5 acres of retention ponds and basins will address storm-water runoff issues.

Now that the plan has been approved, the pressure will be on the developers to turn the SuperTarget site over next month. Should they miss the deadline, they could lose a lot of money and Target will delay the project a full year.

The city estimates the project will boost the city tax base by $70 million.