Twenty-one years ago, I watched the mayor of Sandy unfold a vision for that city's future.

Now is the time for Utah to decide just how far that vision should go.

In those days, I was a reporter assigned to cover Sandy, which had blossomed from an obscure town of 6,438 in 1970 to one of about 70,000 in 1986. It was like a feisty teenager in clothes that were much too small.

City Hall was in an old school building, and council meetings would last long into the night. As they dragged on, I learned the virtue of patience. The good stuff always happened at the end.

Steve Newton was the mayor in those days. He had pulled me aside to tell me about the vision. It involved imagining what Brigham Young would do were he alive in 1986 and watching the valley, and traffic congestion, grow. Brigham, he thought, would stand in downtown Salt Lake City and point southward, proclaiming that the "new downtown" should be located 100 blocks in that direction.

It was by no means a ridiculous vision. It just seemed a bit far off and hard to imagine. In those days, the part of Sandy that runs next to I-15 was a vacant collection of weeds. The South Towne Center was new and struggling to survive.

Today, Tom Dolan is the mayor, but he and everyone else in that city is living in Newton's vision. The weeds have sprouted a collection of office buildings, condominiums and a new City Hall, with more on the way. Light rail runs nearby, promising to bring people in from all parts of the valley as new lines are built.

The funny thing about visions is that they can seem wistful and benign so long as they stay in someone's mind. But when they start becoming a reality, they begin to bump against other visions and plans, and that makes people angry. Today, Sandy's population has leveled off at about 90,000, but the "new downtown" has a momentum all its own, and it's grating on the folks who remain 100 blocks to the north.

First, Sandy got a soccer stadium, financed partly by taxes. Now a developer wants to build a complex that includes commercial offices, shops and a Broadway-ready theater that seats at least 2,500 people.

It's the last item that has brought a lot of other people's vision into a little clearer focus.

Salt Lake City always has been Utah's cultural center, home to the symphony, opera, ballet and Broadway productions, not to mention pro basketball. It also houses the largest concentration of hotel rooms in the state, as well as the largest convention center. And, of course, it is home to the world headquarters of a major religion, whose Temple Square is the state's top tourist attraction.

Two big factors loom: People are fairly certain a Broadway-style theater would require some public funding, and the speaker of Utah's House happens to represent Sandy. Salt Lake City leaders, meanwhile, have planned a new cultural district downtown that would house, among other things, a new theater.