"Does that mean that we will be running ads four times an hour on television?" Long said. "Absolutely not — that's no secret. I think that effective things don't always cost money."

The group will rely on loosely organized meetings, flier distribution and residents talking to neighbors about the zoning change.

"It's definitely grass roots without a lot of money — a lot of citizen labor," said Robyn Bagley, a member of Save Our Communities. "We're poor as church mice."

Save Our Communities has been fighting for more than a year to keep large retailers out of the former gravel pit. First, it opposed the zoning change by the Sandy City Council, which passed it last November. Then it collected signatures for a ballot referendum on the zoning change, but the city rejected those signatures and said the zoning change was not eligible for a general vote. Save Our Communities took its case to the Utah Supreme Court, which ruled July 1 that Sandy had to hold a referendum. The Boyer Co. has petitioned the court to rehear the case, but the court has not yet granted or rejected that petition.

Now, Save Our Communities is fighting the wording that Sandy City Attorney Walter Miller drafted for the referendum. Miller has said that he tried to draft impartial language that generally discussed what was at stake, but Save Our Communities has called the wording confusing and cryptic. The Supreme Court told Sandy and Save Our Communities that it will hear arguments about the referendum wording Aug. 31. The Sandy city recorder needs firm language by Oct. 1 in order to print and distribute ballots before the Nov. 8 election.

Three Sandy officials who supported the zoning change are seeking re-election this fall: Mayor Tom Dolan, who has been an outspoken advocate for the Boyer Co. development, and City Council members Scott Cowdell and Bryant Anderson, both of whom voted for the change. Horn said Wednesday that Wal-Mart has been pleased with the treatment it has received from Sandy but that it does not donate money to municipal election campaigns.

The Wal-Mart at the gravel pit would be a 200,000-square-foot super center — including groceries, clothes, tires and car oil changing. Horn said the company wants the gravel pit store to have an alpine design, similar to stores in Salt Lake City and a store in Taylorsville that opened Thursday.

Wal-Mart has 12 stores in Salt Lake County, but it is closing a store at 10425 S. State in Sandy and moving operations to a store in West Jordan.

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E-mail: kswinyard@desnews.com