It's been three and a half years since it was first proposed that a Walmart store might open on the old, derelict Valley Mall site in Napanoch. However, not a shovel's worth of dirt has moved on the site, as the project is stuck in the courts.

Wakefern Corporation, parent of ShopRite of Ellenville, and Wawarsing-Ellenville for Responsible Development (WERD) have just filed an appeal of a previous, lower-court ruling. This appeal could potentially stretch this fight out for months, perhaps even years, longer.

Meanwhile, on a grander judicial level, a Federal Appeals Court in San Francisco has allowed a giant sex discrimination class-action lawsuit against Walmart to go forward. That case involves as many as a million women who either currently, or have in the past worked for Walmart. The suit alleges systematic discrimination against female employees in favor of male employees.

If Walmart were to lose this one, it could cost the company a fortune, and might even end up reshaping America's giant retailer in ways that we can scarcely imagine right now. Walmart's changing financial picture could have an impact on its plans to build new stores, Napanoch's included.

And Walmart is not the only piece of the puzzle that has changed in the intervening years: the national economy is starkly different than it was in the fall of 2006, and the Wawarsing region is different too, with the loss of a host of major employers and the resulting shift in the area's demographics.

All of this reinforces an important point: what makes sense at one time might not make sense today, to Walmart or even the Town. Of course, hindsight is 20/20, and also no decisions have been made. But one has to wonder that if Walmart finally gets the green light, will they go forward and build a store? Or will they take another look at the whole thing, in light of all that has changed, and reconsider?

The irony of course is that a large part of why the Walmart development is stuck in the courts is due to the failure of the Town of Wawarsing Planning Board to follow recommendations in regard to the NY State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). The most recent appeal puts it plainly enough. There has yet to be performed a comprehensive study of the environmental and economic impacts that a Walmart store would have at this location. The Ulster County Planning Board had urged that such study be performed, but this plea was ignored.

Now, the lawsuit alleges that the Wawarsing Planning Board did not do its job. And there is good evidence to support that view. Sometimes, officials cannot bring themselves to do something that goes against a strongly held — and loudly stated — public opinion. Capitulating in this way often leaves vulnerabilities in a contested proposal, which can exploited by those who oppose the project. The opponents of the Walmart store in Napanoch have done so here, to great effect.

But then, cutting a few corners might have just been a gamble on the part of the Board, to push things along a little faster than might be prudent, in order to prevent the long, drawn out process that seems to have occurred nonetheless. It's a reasonable approach — a gamble many might have taken — even if it didn't work out as planned.

Whatever the strategy was, after three and a half years and much heartache Wawarsing doesn't seem to be any nearer to having its own Walmart. And perhaps that's because the decision was never really up to Wawarsing in the first place. And it still isn't.