Homeowners fighting the proposed Walmart development at the intersection of Sheridan Drive and North Bailey Avenue in Amherst have lost another legal round but aren’t giving up their quest to keep the megastore from being built.

The Appellate Division of State Supreme Court in Rochester has refused to grant the Hartford-North Bailey Homeowners Association’s request to have its case against Walmart heard by the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals.

The homeowners association still has the right to directly petition the Court of Appeals for a hearing, which it is expected to do. “It has been their intention to leave no stone unturned,” said Richard J. Lippes, the lawyer representing the association.

He also said the negative response by the Appellate Division in Rochester is typical and comes as no surprise.

Association President Frank

S. Pasztor also said the group is committed to following through with a direct petition to the Court of Appeals.

Plans to put a Walmart in the former Hills-Ames plaza have been discussed since 2006.

During that time, the homeowners association has raised numerous objections, including that unlike many other Walmart projects, the Sheridan-North Bailey location is bounded by residential neighborhoods on three sides.

So far, the homeowners association has had little legal success convincing any court that their situation merits a legal halt to the 185,000-square-foot project, which is a joint venture between Walmart and Benderson Development Co.

In June 2008, former State Supreme Court Justice Joseph

G. Makowski dismissed attempts to kill the project on environmental and procedural grounds. That decision was upheld on appeal by the Appellate Division in June.

Town and Benderson officials have said the Walmart project would occupy a vacant retail plaza that has been dedicated for commercial and retail use for decades. The homeowners group is suing the town Planning Board along with Walmart Stores and Benderson Development. “We continue to believe the town . . . will be upheld in the higher courts,” Town Attorney

E. Thomas Jones said.