Richardson said, "Our position basically isn't that we're for alcohol or for Sunday openings, it's that we're for a more reasonable, balanced approach to governing. These ordinances trample on the rights of landowners, of individual citizens who want to have the ability to make decisions, without providing any health or safety benefit. I have yet to meet a young person who said, 'The reason I didn't drink alcohol as a kid is because my city prohibited it.' "

Some Cedar Hills residents have expressed concern that if the alcohol ban and Sunday closure initiatives are passed, commercial development will be stymied in the city.

Smith's Food and Drug pulled out of a planned development near Lone Peak High School after the controversy arose.

But some residents are confident development will go on, even in a dry city where businesses operate six days a week.

"We are informed that there are two grocery stores interested in anchoring in Cedar Hills, and they are willing to maintain these community standards," Duncan said. "So we know that even with these ordinances, we will be able to have" stores in the city.

Duncan said even if the city must wait for development and the ensuing sales tax revenue, property tax increases will not be exorbitant.

"The city budget shows that within the next three years, the increase is incremental. I think only $2 a month per household is going to be required to maintain a balanced budget, and that's without commercial," she said. "But of course we encourage commercial, and we know we can get it while maintaining our standards."

Richardson sees that as unlikely and says the two interested parties the coalition touts have not even approached the developer and are certainly not ready to build.

Neither group has taken a position on the refinancing of the golf course.

About half of Cedar Hills residents registered to vote before the deadline last Wednesday.

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E-mail: mdecker@desnews.com