"If it goes up piecemeal, you have to deal with the issues that arise as each piece comes in," he said. "By developing it all at once, you can deal with the issues in one shot."

City leaders expressed sympathy for residents who would be negatively impacted by the development but said it was simply too good a deal for the city overall to pass up.

"It hasn't been a situation where things were taken lightly," Councilman Seth Sorensen said. "It's been a situation where we've tried to find the best good for the community. Some of these decisions aren't easy, they aren't pleasant, but they are decisions that need to be made."

"I sympathize, I do," Mayor Joe Thomas said. "But I've spent a tremendous amount of time on this deal, and I will say it unequivocally, I think this is a tremendous deal for the city. Either we get this, or our tax base continues to go to other places, and we'll have to pony up that tax base in terms of property tax."

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E-mail: jtwitchell@desnews.com