MILLCREEK — A Home Depot store being built near 3300 South and Highland Drive has differences — economic and political, local and countywide — simmering near the flash point.

Last week, a 3rd District judge ruled that the county's Board of Adjustment had made errors in approving the project, now under construction, principally because it did not allocate enough parking spaces.

Two Millcreek residents had fought the superstore through the county and then into the courts. They had hoped to stop the project altogether, but they said they'll take the less-than-complete victory.

"It was partial for us and partial for them," resident Dina Blaes said.

But Blaes is not just any resident; she is the Democratic candidate for Salt Lake County Council District 4.

At the same time, the County Council has been tying itself in knots over a proposed $30,000 study on how "big box" superstores impact small, home-grown businesses, focusing on the Home Depot in question as well as a Wal-Mart proposed nearby.

Russell Skousen, the incumbent District 4 councilman whose seat Blaes hopes to occupy, has been in the thick of the debate over whether to fund the study, which would be conducted by the University of Utah's Bureau of Economic and Business Research.

Skousen and others on the council fear that the study would be overly influenced by the Salt Lake Vest Pocket Coalition, which first proposed the study last year as part of its "Local First" campaign. If that influence were indeed real, the study would obviously be biased toward small businesses and against large ones.

Bureau senior research analyst Jan Crispin-Little maintains that the study would be carried out fairly. Senior economist James Wood, in fact, says the study may conclude that the existence of a big box store is actually beneficial to small businesses in the area, since it might serve as an anchor, drawing shoppers in who would also go to other stores.

The council has been banging the issue around for weeks, spending hours arguing about the scope of the study and whether to authorize a relatively very small expenditure.

Democrat Jim Bradley is the study's champion on the council, in direct opposition to Republican Skousen. In addition, the president of the Vest Pocket Coalition is Peter Corroon, Democratic candidate for county mayor.

With timing that may or may not be coincidental, Corroon has scheduled a press conference today in which he will "present his ideas for turning Salt Lake County's economy around," according to the announcement. It will be held at a small Murray dog salon and, significant given the circumstances, several local business owners will be in attendance.

Some of the other council members have wondered what all the fuss is about. Councilman David Wilde, for one, says the issue of how big boxes affect local businesses has been studied to death and is far from convinced that this study would add anything.

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E-mail: aedwards@desnews.com