The real estate arm of Mesa State College took another step Monday night toward developing a large mixed-use project that would include more than 1,100 housing units and retail space nearly the size of Mesa Mall.

The Grand Junction Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of an outline development plan and a planned-development zone district for 154 acres of land at the northwest corner of 29 and D roads.

The outline development plan calls for the construction of up to 1,124 multifamily housing units, 565,000 square feet of commercial space and 44 acres of light industrial businesses.

The housing would constitute the largest multifamily development in the Grand Valley, while the commercial space would create one of the largest shopping centers in the area.

Representatives for the college’s Real Estate Foundation, which owns the property, say the development would shore up the area’s shortage of high-density housing and provide shopping opportunities at the east end of the valley.

Planning commissioners went along with a request to increase the maximum building size from 150,000 square feet to 250,000 square feet. Joe Carter, a landscape architect with Ciavonne, Roberts & Associates who is representing the college’s Real Estate Foundation, said the larger building size would allow for a greater variety of retailers to occupy space in the development.

Currently, the land is home to Mesa State’s electrical lineman program, the Western Slope Animal Diagnostic Laboratory and several storage buildings. It sits immediately east of the Veterans Memorial Cemetery of Western Colorado.

The foundation agreed to establish a 50-foot setback for structures on the west side of the property, a 25-foot landscape buffer and a 6-foot fence after cemetery directors expressed concern that noise from the development could interfere with the solemnity of the cemetery.

“We didn’t want to do anything to disrupt that,” Carter said.

John Andrews, director of the animal laboratory, said Mesa State and Colorado State University have had discussions about relocating the program but that nothing has been finalized.

The City Council will have the final say on the zoning and outline development plan. The next step for the foundation is to file a preliminary plan that will offer more detail about the project, including traffic impacts.

Afghan president blasts coalition forces

KABUL, Afghanistan— Tensions between Western forces and the government of President Hamid Karzai flared anew Monday when the Afghan leader and a provincial governor accused the U.S.-led coalition of killing 14 Afghans who were guarding a road-construction project.

Karzai repeatedly has demanded that Western troops take urgent measures to avoid killing and injuring Afghan civilians. Recent high-profile instances of civilian casualties have inflamed public sentiment not only against foreign forces in Afghanistan, but against the U.S.-backed government as well.

In a sign of confusion and disorganization within the Karzai administration, however, the Interior Ministry said in a separate statement that the 14 slain men had fired on coalition forces in Khost province near the border with Pakistan.

Death toll at 94 in Haitian school collapse

PETIONVILLE, Haiti — U.S., French and Haitian firefighters used sonar, cameras and dogs Monday in the search for victims at a collapsed Haitian school, but as the stench of death rose from the wreckage they no longer expected to find anyone else alive.

Three days after the concrete building suddenly collapsed during a children’s party, killing at least 94 students and adults and severely injuring 150 more, Capt. Michael Istvan of Fairfax County, Va., said the chance of finding more survivors was remote. He also said the death toll won’t likely go much higher.

Several bodies were pulled out Monday, caked in concrete dust, and radar and cameras located several more.

But there have been no indications of survivors since the last children were pulled from the wreckage Saturday morning, said Daniel Vigee, head of a Martinique-based French rescue team.

Bombs kill at least 31 people in Baghdad

BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber struck a crowd rushing to help schoolgirls trapped in a bus by an earlier bombing Monday, killing at least 31 people — the deadliest in a string of blasts that raise doubts about Iraqi security forces as the U.S. prepares to reduce troops.

The Interior Ministry, which provided casualty figures, said another 71 people were wounded in the twin blasts, the deadliest attack in Baghdad in six weeks. A third bomb exploded several hundred yards from the scene in the mostly Shiite Kasrah section of north Baghdad but caused no casualties, police said.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks during the morning rush hour. But suspicion fell on al-Qaida in Iraq, which has made suicide bombings against Shiite civilians its signature attack.

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