The intersection of highways 51 and B on the outskirts of Stoughton is where Wal-Mart executives hope to build a sprawling new Supercenter, an initiative that has sparked debate and pitted neighbor against neighbor.

The new big-box complex would provide residents with a “one-stop shop,” including everything from a full-scale grocery store to the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen clothing line, all at discount prices.

But according to some residents, the proposed expansion has created a rift in this town, located 20 miles south of Madison. The population of 12,500 is evenly divided on whether it wants Wal-Mart to expand outside the city or stay put within the town’s boundaries as a regular-sized store.

“It has really torn Stoughton apart,” Ald. Melissa Lampe said. “I have never seen anything like this. It has been ugly.”

The issue has brought the little community to something of a boiling point as residents, City Council officials and Wal-Mart executives clash in a tense power struggle to determine the direction local business will take.

“It’s a very emotional issue for most people,” said Larry Peterson, spokesperson for UFF-DA Wal-Mart Supercenter, an anti-Wal-Mart expansion group. “It speaks directly to things people love best about their town.”

The Stoughton City Council will vote on a big-box ordinance at its next meeting, Jan. 27. Included in the proposed rule is a provision capping big-box development at 110,000 feet, well below the 180,000 feet needed to construct the Supercenter.

The Committee to Promote Stoughton Growth gathered more than 1,300 signatures to make city officials increase the size cap to 180,000 feet or hold a public referendum to decide the issue. The city attorney rejected the petition on the grounds that zoning laws cannot be amended by petition.

The City Council plans to discuss possible alternatives to the Supercenter with Wal-Mart officials before the next council meeting. Wal-Mart executives hope they can convince city officials to amend the capped ordinance in order to increase the space limitation during the Jan. 27 meeting.

Opponents to a bigger Wal-Mart point to the threat a commercial monopoly could possibly pose to downtown business as reason why the huge discount chain should not be allowed to expand. Main Street Stoughton is home to an eclectic array of specialty stores that depend on downtown foot traffic to stay afloat.

Ardis Gyland, manager of the Scandinavian shop The Nordic Nook, fears that a Wal-Mart Supercenter will eventually kill her family business. The store has been a family project for the Gylands, who have close ties with their Scandinavian heritage.

“The store has been a real joy,” Ardis, who watches over the store for her daughter Patrice, said. “It is something that the family believes in. We would like to see it succeed and continue.”

But if Wal-Mart is allowed to expand on the town’s outer limits, Ardis fears that customers will flock to the new storehouse and leave the now bustling downtown empty.

“If we don’t have anyone downtown, it will destroy Main Street.”

But not all local business owners say they are worried.

“The people of Stoughton have always been loyal to the downtown, to the business owners who are their neighbors,” Dan McGlinn, owner of McGlinn Pharmacy in downtown Stoughton, said.

According to Bob Burull, a representative of the Committee to Promote Stoughton Growth, an enhanced Wal-Mart will not take away customers from downtown Stoughton. Instead, a Supercenter will increase the amount of commercial traffic in the area.

“Wal-Mart will grow the economy,” Burull said.

Burull believes the City Council’s “disturbing” refusal to allow a public referendum on the subject keeps Stoughton residents from having a voice on the matter. The council turned down a proposal Jan. 13 to allow a public referendum on the Wal-Mart expansion.

Burull labeled members of the council as “pseudo-professionals” inclined to keep Stoughton’s business community stagnant because of an ideological disdain for Wal-Mart. He also alleged that council members have thick pocketbooks that exclude them from any need to shop at a discount store.

“These people do not allow growth,” Burull said. “They are anti-business and anti-growth. And they hate Wal-Mart.”

Wal-Mart executives claims the existence of “mom and pop” businesses will not be threatened by a Supercenter because Wal-Mart serves a different purpose from smaller, specialized stores. Additionally, they say attempts to “vilify” Wal-Mart as a commercial monopoly and oppressive employer are the result of an ideological agenda against the company more than any kind of truth about the chain.

Wal-Mart is the world’s largest company. Its annual sales exceed $218 billion, and it employs 1.3 million people worldwide.

The showdown in Stoughton is set against a concurrent national debate over whether Wal-Mart constitutes a worldwide monopoly.

If Wal-Mart fails to change the proposed ordinance in Stoughton, company officials foresee moving out of the community when the lease expires on their present store in 2008. Executives claim it will simply not be lucrative to stay in an area that does not permit expansion.

“There is no plan B,” John Beseo, a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. official, said. “But it’s not a matter of, ‘We can’t have our way, so we are going to pick up our toys and go home.'”

As of yet, however, the issue is still very much in the air. The issue has flip-flopped repeatedly over the past months, leaving the future of Wal-Mart and the survival of local business in Stoughton uncertain for now.

“This whole issue unfolds by the minute around here,” Lampe said.