CLEMSON — The Clemson Council is expected Monday to set a time when members of the public can have their say about a proposed new Lowe’s store on the site where the community rejected a Wal-Mart several years ago.

In a staff memo, the Clemson Planning and Codes department has recommended the Council set a public hearing on the project for 6 p.m. on Nov. 17 in Council Chambers, prior to the Council’s regularly scheduled meeting.

Last week, the City Planning Commission asked developers Paramount Development Corp., of Myrtle Beach, to clarify final details of the project before the Planning Commission’s November meeting, where the project faces a final vote before going to the City Council.

The project faced its first hurdle in July, when residents of the area near the 18-acre site adjoining U.S. 123 and Issaqueena Trail raised concerns over traffic and noise.

In addition, the area is zoned for buildings of up to 100,000 square feet and the basic design of a Lowe’s Home Improvement Center is 156,000 square feet. The developers have subsequently modified their request for, first, a 142,000 square foot building and then one of 137,000 square feet.

Traffic concerns are the greatest worries for residents of the nearby Westcott subdivision.

Developer David Harner, of Paramount Development Corp., said traffic studies have indicated the planned building would increase traffic in the area by only about 4,000 cars a day, half the number expected with a full-sized development. Traffic, he opined, should not be a problem.

Alexander Reneke, who lives in the Westcott subdivision, was not convinced after hearing Harner.

“About 4,000 cars a day when we have about 11,000 people in Clemson is quite a few,” Reneke said at the first public airing of the plan. “That’s a lot of noise.”

Not only that, Reneke said, but the regular transport truck traffic in and out of the store location, besides the dust, dirt and noise raised during the construction were all of concern.

The basic plan calls for several outlying shops and stores as well,

according to developers, including the possibility of a restaurant or bank.

Lowe’s total investment in the project is estimated at about $15 million.

City council meets at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the council's meeting room at city hall.