Ads back Sandy pit project

SANDY — Friends of Quarry Bend, the Boyer Co.- and Wal-Mart-sponsored foil to Save Our Communities, has started rolling out radio advertisements with at least one television spot to follow.

With a virtually unlimited budget, the group has control of the microphone 3 1/2 weeks before the Nov. 8 Sandy referendum on zoning and a proposed Boyer development at the former gravel pit at 9400 South and 1000 East.

Kelly Casaday, the spokesman for the Wal-Mart campaign, said that the advertising and community endorsements — such as one Friday from the board of the Sandy Area Chamber of Commerce — are part of "whatever turns out to be necessary to make sure that every voter in Sandy has a chance to hear our message."

Friends of Quarry Bend's current radio ad features a montage of voices touting the benefits of the Boyer development — housing, trails, parks and mixed-use retail, including big boxes Wal-Mart Supercenter and Lowe's Home Improvement. Set to strings and guitar strumming, the voices talk about parks, open space, the development's general economic impact, road improvement and benefits to schools. The ad ends with a man saying, "We're 100 percent sold on it. I think that's what we need here in Sandy."

Friends of Quarry Bend, named after the development, doesn't have a set ceiling for advertising, said Molly Darrow, one of the group's founders. "What we do is talk about what we would like to do, and then Kelly says, 'I'm sure that we have enough money to do this,' " Darrow said.

Neither Friends of Quarry Bend nor Save Our Communities has to file financial statements with the Sandy city recorder as political office candidates do, so estimates of the groups' worths must come from them. SOC member Roy Ostendorf, who handles donations and expenses, thinks SOC has seen approximately $7,000 come in, and much of that has gone toward yard signs and fliers.

Casaday did not have figures for campaign contributions.

"The money is coming from people who right now have an interest in the property," Casaday said. "Wal-Mart has been a major contributor."

Wal-Mart does not have day-to-day involvement with the campaign, Casaday said, but store consultants stay in contact with him and offer suggestions, including the idea of conducting polls of Sandy residents. Wal-Mart has conducted at least two polls and may conduct more before the election, Casaday said.