"I would appreciate it if you would change your strategies," McCandless said. "If this referendum succeeds and the zoning fails, we as a council have to come up with the $50 to $90 million for a park."

A 107-acre park would be nice, Forbush said, but community pressures likely will make it impossible.

"I don't know that we can afford to build a 100-acre park," Forbush said. "For me, the referendum is not about a park, and it's really not about Wal-Mart. It's about whether the citizens were heard during these public hearings."

After a long series of public hearings, the Sandy City Council voted last November to approve a zoning change that allows large retailers and dozens of other uses. Save Our Communities has been fighting the change through the court system, and it won a Utah Supreme Court decision July 1 that said Sandy had to hold a referendum on the zoning change. Now, the group is asking the Supreme Court to write the language of the referendum; the court will hear arguments on that request Wednesday.

Meyer was a relatively silent voice throughout the discussion. The certified public accountant faces an uphill battle to distinguish himself before the Oct. 4 primary when voters will narrow the field to two.

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E-mail: kswinyard@desnews.com