BANGOR – In a move designed to allay environmental concerns involving a planned Wal-Mart Supercenter near the Penjajawoc Marsh, the project’s developer has struck a deal to protect nearly 30 acres around the sensitive wetland.

“We had certainly been paying a lot of attention to the concerns that we had learned about,” said Kevin Kane, a spokesman for the DeWitt, N.Y.-based Widewaters Group. “I think we’re offering a far more sensitive response.”

The plan, received Friday by city officials, marks the latest chapter in a bitter debate over a 224,000-square-foot Wal-Mart project, which environmentalists claim would harm the wildlife – most notably the threatened bird population – near the marsh.

The project remains stalled in court and at the state Board of Environmental Protection, the latter of which had expressed concerns about the project coming too close to the southern tip of the wetland, just a stone’s throw from the Bangor Mall.

But some city officials said Friday’s conservation proposal could signal a significant step forward in Widewaters’ effort to move the controversial project forward in what has proved to be a lengthy regulatory process.

The mitigation plan would prohibit development on 27.4 acres of farmland west of the marsh and north of the old Veazie railroad bed. Under the agreement, the land could only be used to grow crops or as pastureland and would be closed to all motor vehicles except snowmobiles or agricultural vehicles.

Perhaps more appealing to city officials, however, is another aspect of the plan that would limit development on a 1-acre parcel on the eastern edge of the marsh and allow public access to the site from an easement on Stillwater Avenue.

The proposal, which would require the city to enforce the terms of the conservation agreement, must be approved by both the City Council and state environmental regulators.

On Tuesday, the City Council’s Infrastructure and Development Support Committee will consider the matter at its 4:30 p.m. meeting. City legal staff has recommended its approval.

City officials said Friday that the plan, at first glance, looked as though it struck a reasonable balance between development and conservation.

“This looks like it could be a nice merger of the two,” said City Councilor John Rohman, adding that the easterly easement could provide some much needed public access to the valuable wildlife habitat.

Officials from Bangor Area Citizens Organized for Responsible Development, a group opposed to the project, could not be reached for comment Friday.

The Wal-Mart project remains under litigation, with the Maine Supreme Judicial Court in February declining to rule on BACORD’s appeal of a lower court’s decision that allowed the plan to go forward. In its decision, the appeals court requested that the city’s planning board offer written reasons for its earlier denial of the project.

The project, which recently received approval from the Maine Department of Transportation, must also win approval from the Board of Environmental Protection.

Because of the public interest, the BEP is expected to hold hearings on the project sometime in June, according to Department of Environmental Protection analyst Stacie Beyer.

Beyer said Friday that the department, as part of its review, would consider the Widewaters mitigation plan as part of its original application.

The proposed Bangor project – some 5 acres of building space and 13 acres of parking – would replace the existing Wal-Mart, which opened on Springer Drive in 1992.