1979: Santa Fe dentist William Herrera and family buy 33 acres off Cerrillos Road, just past its intersection with Jaguar Drive.

1985: City Council agrees to annex Herrera's property.

1994: Property is rezoned from residential to commercial to accommodate adjacent, city-sponsored Tierra Contenta housing subdivision.

July 7, 2005: City Planning Commission approves plans for Entrada Contenta, with 265,000 square feet of commercial space, anchored by a nearly 150,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Aug. 15-16, 2005: City Council hears five hours of testimony before a crowd of 500 at Santa Fe High School gymnasium. At 4:30 a.m., after several tie votes, then-Mayor Larry Delgado breaks a tie to give conditional approval, contingent on revision of traffic plan. (Councilors Miguel Chavez, Carol Robertson Lopez, Matthew Ortiz and David Pfeffer vote for the plan; Patti Bushee, David Coss, Karen Heldmeyer and Rebecca Wurzburger vote no.)

Sept. 28, 2005: In a final vote, Delgado again breaks tie involving same councilors on traffic plan for the development.

Oct. 20, 2005: Coalition Against Big Box Stores, which includes the owners of 22 businesses and others, gives formal notice they will appeal council decision in court, claiming process the city followed was flawed.

March 1, 2006: State Supreme Court appoints state District Judge Freddie Romero of Roswell to hear the case after all local judges are disqualified.

March 7, 2006: Councilor Coss elected mayor. Delgado, who has served two four-year terms, did not seek re-election.

July 2006: An archaeologist hired to survey the proposed site alleges a land-use consultant for the development tried to get him to ignore archaeological artifacts there. The consultant disputes that. Steve Johnson Development LLC of Albuquerque and Scottsdale, Ariz., drops out of the project, leaving the landowner, Herrera and Associates, and Frontera Development of Phoenix as the developers of Entrada Contenta.

March 15, 2007: Judge Romero upholds council vote.

April 5, 2007: Coalition says it will appeal to state Court of Appeals.

November 2007: Contractor begins building an access road on the site, but all other work remains on hold.

Aug. 1, 2008: A three-judge panel for the state Court of Appeals withdraws from the case without a decision. A new panel is appointed.

June 17, 2009: Court of Appeals upholds Romero's decision.