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Plans were in the works for a Wilsonville store for well-known hunting and fishing supply retailer Cabela’s until Ralph Elligsen, owner of the property the store would sit on, met with city planning staff earlier this month.

The idea was discouraged by Wilsonville’s planning staff because the proposed retail store would bring too much traffic from the metro region to Wilsonville, said Mark Ottenad, government affairs director for the city of Wilsonville.

“We have the most congested portion of Interstate 5 in the region,” Ottenad said. “What we learned with Fry’s (Electronics) is that it’s not appropriate to have people leaving the metro region to do their shopping down south.”

In Wilsonville’s comprehensive plan, the 32-acre lot Cabela’s was eying is designated for industrial purposes. However, only 26 acres of the lot are actually zoned industrial, while the other six acres are zoned commercial. The land is also targeted by Metro as a regionally significant industrial lot.

“We’ve been loath to surrender our traffic capacity at the interchanges for low paying retail jobs,” Ottenad said.