A great deal is at stake in gravel pit

With a list of more than 150 possible uses, the fight over a former gravel pit in Sandy can get a little confusing at times.

Voters will decide Nov. 8 whether to allow a development with big box stores at the former gravel pit at 9400 South and 1000 East. But big box stores aren't the only ones that might show up if voters allow the development to go forward.

Also at issue are the two dozen or so differences between the prospective zones, including the shift toward retailers.

General revisions change the area from a mixed-use zone to a commercial zone. Parks, open space, schools, and residential facilities for elderly people would be restricted in the revised zone more than they were in the original. At the same time, the revised zone would ease restrictions on commercial properties to allow larger uses.

The City Council knew that Wal-Mart was interested in the gravel pit property before it passed the revisions to the zone, Mayor Tom Dolan said. Many of the revisions are geared to accommodate the world's largest retailer.

For instance, buildings could be taller and set closer to the street. Sandy spokesman Nick Duerksen said that was a police department preference so that patrol officers could more easily see into shops.

In the original zone, commercial development was restricted as part of a master plan developed in the late 1980s. That plan encouraged blending uses and transitions to adjacent zones, most of which include residential neighborhoods. As a result, most retail uses were prohibited.

In the revised zone, commercial uses were nearly all updated and upgraded to allow uses that would come with big box stores — including a Wal-Mart Supercenter with a tire and lube shop, a use that was prohibited in the original zone.

The SDX zone, the formal name of the zone, was created for a mixed-use development with uses that did not conflict with shops at 9400 South and 700 East at the time. Even though some specialty shops were allowed, Duerksen said, the SDX zone did not allow animal kennels or veterinary offices, for example, because they would have competed with those businesses at 9400 South and 700 East.

"A lot of it was geared towards not allowing the same uses at the gravel pit, eventually, that were at the time at 9400 South and 700 East," Duerksen said.

In the 17 years since the original zone passed, turnover at 9400 South and 700 East has made many of the prohibited uses moot.

"That's one of the issues that the council had to take a look at — are there uses that would be prohibited that aren't in that area that now need to be added?" Duerksen said.

The referendum Nov. 8 is the culmination of an 18-month fight between Save Our Communities and the city and developers. SOC opposed big box stores at the 107-acre site, but the City Council revised the SDX zone to allow for it. SOC filed a petition to hold a referendum on the zone change and took the case to the Utah Supreme Court and eventually won the right to hold the referendum.

SOC also has fought the city on the wording of the referendum, arguing that the first version was convoluted and difficult for voters to decipher. The Supreme Court rewrote the language that will appear on ballots. Voters will vote either "for" or "against" the ordinance revisions — "for" is a vote for the zone change, big box stores, and the Boyer Co. development; "against" would send the ordinance back to the Sandy planning commission.

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E-mail: kswinyard@desnews.com