Wal-Mart has proposed planting a gently sloping meadow with native grasses, shrubs and trees along Route 65 in Kilbuck where controversial plans for its River Pointe Plaza shopping center slipped away a year and a half ago.

The proposal is part of a detailed plan to stabilize the 75-acre site where a massive landslide in September 2006 sent more than 300,000 cubic yards of dirt, rock and debris onto the four-lane road and scuttling plans for the $28 million development that had riled environmentalists and local community activists.

According to soil monitoring reports required by the state Department of Environmental Protection, fill material in some areas continues to move downhill on the slippery underlying clays -- known as the "Pittsburgh redbeds" -- at a rate of three-eighths of an inch a week.

The stabilization plan, submitted this week to the DEP, also proposes construction of two reinforced soil slopes or walls, a new storm water management and erosion plan, a regrading program that will move more than 840,000 cubic yards of earth around the former Dixmont State Hospital site over the next two years, and a long-term monitoring program.

"The final stabilization submittal," said James Davis, a Wal-Mart spokesman, "includes a grading plan that will return the entire site, including the area of the landslide, the upper slopes, the western peak and the eastern outparcels, to a condition resembling a sloping upland meadow that likely existed naturally before the days of the Dixmont hospital."

Wal-Mart announced in September 2007, a year after the slide, that it was dropping plans to pursue the development and committed to permanently stabilizing the property. The plan it submitted Monday is similar to one proposed at that time, but has been refined in meetings between Wal-Mart's consulting engineers and DEP officials.

The latest plan includes a 35-foot-tall, 853-foot-long reinforced soil slope, or angled wall, running parallel to Route 65 and set back 100 to 200 feet from the road. A second reinforced soil slope, 27.5 feet tall and 1,679 feet long, will be built uphill from the main slide area and again running parallel to the road.

"We hope to complete a significant amount of the earth-moving work and most of the stabilizing work this year, and work on the final part of the project at the beginning of 2009," Mr. Davis said. "Then the site will be actively monitored for a number of years."

Bob Keir, co-chair of Communities First!, a citizens group formed to oppose the development, said the proposal appears to be a positive step, although a review by the group's engineer found some groundwater management issues.

"Wal-Mart seems to be trying to do the right thing now," Mr. Keir said. "We just want to get the hillside stabilized, and the road opened all the way up because it remains a real inconvenience for a lot of people."

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has kept one northbound lane of four-lane Route 65, also known as Ohio River Boulevard, closed since the landslide as a safety buffer.

"We're hoping to get the lane open this spring," said Jim Struzzi, a PennDOT spokesman. "We want it open and the damage repaired as soon as possible."

The DEP will hold a public meeting on the Wal-Mart proposal Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the Avonworth High School Auditorium. DEP staff will be available to describe the review process and Wal-Mart representatives will provide details of the stabilization plan and answer questions.

Citizens can arrange to view Wal-Mart's proposed stabilization plan at the DEP's Southwest Regional Office, 400 Waterfront Drive, on Washington's Landing, by calling 412-442-4000.