A New Mexico Court of Appeals decision Wednesday clears the way for Wal-Mart to start building its planned Supercenter on the southwest end of Santa Fe.

A three-judge panel essentially upheld the Santa Fe City Council's 5-4 vote in August 2005 to allow a commercial development on Cerrillos Road with a nearly 150,000-square-foot Wal-Mart store.

Arguments over the project went beyond land-use and traffic issues, with some residents asserting that they want access to low-price products while others attacked the giant discount chain as a bad employer that overwhelms small, local retailers.

After an all-night hearing ended with council approval of the 33-acre Entrada Contenta development, opponents mounted a court challenge that effectively stalled the project.

Nancy Long, an attorney representing William Herrera, a retired dentist whose family owns the land to be developed, said her clients are pleased with the appellate court's decision. Attorneys for a group calling itself the Coalition Against Big Box Stores, who had appealed the case, weren't available for comment.

Design Warehouse owner Larry Keller, one of the local business owners in the coalition, said Wednesday that he had yet to hear about the decision. "Of course, I'm opposed to (Wal-Mart), and I lent my name to the case as the first guy up," he said. "I'm sorry to hear that. It's the last thing we need."

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Delia Garcia said the world's largest retailer looks forward to building a new Santa Fe store.

"We're certainly committed to the city and to the residents of Santa Fe, and we look forward to moving ahead with our plans to build this store," she said. "My understanding is there's still some time for the plaintiffs to appeal this decision as well to the (state) Supreme Court, and so obviously we will need to see how this plays out."

The coalition opposing the project first asked a state district judge to overturn the council vote, claiming the city attorney at the time had given incorrect instructions to councilors about what they could consider and arguing that one councilor had been allowed to change his vote improperly.

After all judges in the 1st Judicial District recused themselves from the case or were disqualified, state District Judge Freddie Romero of Roswell was appointed to hear the case. In 2007, he upheld the council vote. The coalition then appealed to the state Court of Appeals, claiming Romero had improperly excluded affidavits from Councilors Patti Bushee and Rebecca Wurzburger and then-Councilor and now-Mayor David Coss.

A memorandum opinion written by appellate Judge Robert E. Robles, with Judges Cynthia A. Fry and Jonathan B. Sutin concurring, found the councilors considered all aspects of the case before voting on the development, despite the then-city attorney's advice.

"The record reveals reasonable and rational consideration of the project by those who voted for it," says the memo. "Had the three affidavits not been stricken, they would have tended to show that at least some of the councilors believed their review was limited. However, there is nothing in the record affirmatively tending to show that any of the pro-development councilors either believed their review was limited or would have voted against the development had they so believed."

The memo quotes Councilor Matthew Ortiz, who voted for the development, as saying that evening: "I believe Wal-Mart is a bad corporation. I believe they're bad to their employees. I think they're bad to the environment. They're bad to this country. But my constituents want their cheap gas, so I have to vote yes."

The opinion concluded, "Given the extensive record, including the citizens' testimony on both sides of a broad range of issues, and given indications that the councilors did not entirely limit their review as advised, the Council's decision was not arbitrary and capricious, and is affirmed."

The company has said that it doesn't plan to close an existing Wal-Mart located farther north on Cerrillos Road or its Sam's Club outlet on Rodeo Road. Unlike the existing Wal-Mart store, the Supercenter will have a full range of groceries.

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.