"I'm reminded of the days in Salem when the people would run a witch out of town," Councilman Darin Lowder wrote in an e-mail. "How sad that the 'coalition' considers Smith's, a very respected grocer, to be that dangerous to our community."

Mayor Mike McGee suspects Smith's is pulling out largely due to image concerns, not because of the coalition's petition push.

"I don't know that it was (the coalition) efforts so much as that Smith's just didn't want to put up with the bad publicity," he said. "I'm just assuming that they've decided that they don't want to deal with the negative publicity that's been generated through this."

Coalition to Preserve Cedar Hills Chairman Gary Duncan said the group doesn't see Smith's departure as a victory.

"I think we'll feel that we can claim victory when the two ordinances that we're proposing via the petition process are established," he said. "That will be victory for us."

Duncan said the group has already gathered enough signatures to put the initiatives on the November ballot, although the City Council has suggested the possibility of placing the measures on the ballot in June, when Cedar Hills residents will decide a bond issue. According to Duncan, the coalition would have been happy to have Smith's in Cedar Hills but wanted to maintain the community's standards.

"We think that the community needs to establish standards, and then whatever businesses want to come in and service the community are welcome," Duncan said. "We would have been very happy with Smith's deciding to build and operate under the conditions that we want. That would have been a desirable outcome, but we don't see it as the only desirable outcome. Another store that wishes to do that would be equally welcome."

Harvest Fresh Natural Foods could be that store. A few weeks ago, after requests from residents, store president Lee Abbott penned a letter expressing interest in building in Cedar Hills if Smith's fell through, and he now plans to push forward.

"It's just a matter of working out a deal with the developer, but we're ready to do it," Abbott said. "In fact, we're excited to do it."

The natural foods grocer currently has one store in Orem. He has plans to expand and says Cedar Hills is the perfect fit.

"From our point of view, this is a preferable option to the others we're looking at because of the proximity to Highland and Alpine and the high incomes in those areas, which is perfect for the type of store we want to run," he said.

Abbott said he had no intention of pushing Smith's out, but did want to take advantage of the opportunity if it became available.

Gilford said the timing of Smith's decision is due to business factors, as well as consideration for the city's development future.

"We need to redirect our resources, and we just believe that its time to make the decision and move forward in the best interest of our business," she said. "And we also want Cedar Hills to take advantage of the opportunity that we are choosing not to take advantage of; we want Cedar Hills to move forward so that their community can be served."

But Gilford said Smith's has not eliminated the option of building a store in Cedar Hills sometime in the future, probably years down the road.

"We think Cedar Hills is a wonderful community, and we'd like to keep the door open for a future site there, but just not within the next year or two." she said. "Right now, its in our best interest to focus on some other expansion opportunities."

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E-mail: mdecker@desnews.com