Wal-Mart wants bid for rezoning pulled from Sandy agenda

SANDY — Wal-Mart has asked city officials to remove its rezoning request from the agenda for tonight's Sandy Planning Commission meeting, but it has not scrapped its controversial plans for a new store in east Sandy.

The proposal to build a 142,000-square-foot store on the southwest corner of 2000 East and 9400 South has drawn opposition from neighboring residents. They fear a Wal-Mart would increase traffic, add to noise pollution and damage property values in the area.

"We did in fact ask that our application be held because we wanted to resolve some outstanding issues and we are not prepared to go before the planning commission right at this time," Wal-Mart spokeswoman Amy Hill said from the company's regional offices in Reno, Nev.

"We feel that it's best that we resolve these issues and continue to work on the development so that we have a better project."

Hill did not elaborate on the specific issues Wal-Mart is attempting to address. And company officials haven't told the Sandy planning staff much more than that, either.

"They are not pulling their application, they just asked to be removed from this particular Planning Commission agenda," said Sandy planning spokesman Nick Duerksen. "They didn't indicate at the time if they wanted to be rescheduled, and if so, to what agenda. So we're waiting to hear that."

Tracy Goldberg, community coordinator for an adjacent neighborhood and leader of the opposition to the proposal, said she isn't sure if Wal-Mart's action had anything to do with her group's efforts to stop the store from being constructed.

"Whatever their next move is, we're ready for it," she said. "In our minds, this is giving us a little bit more time to garner more support. "I have a long list of people who are opposing this Wal-Mart. I know that Sandy City Hall has gotten a lot of e-mails and phone calls, and I would say the vast majority has been opposed to this project."

Doug Darrington, community coordinator in the Willow Canyon community to the west and south of the site, said opposition in his area is "100 percent." Residents are particularly concerned that Wal-Mart would turn 9800 South into a major thoroughfare.

"Traffic along 98th would cross four different schools," he said. "It's not just Wal-Mart, but it's the whole idea of a big box. That's not what was promised there when they rezoned the Albertsons development. . . . A big box is not appropriate for that size of a neighborhood."

Wal-Mart has been working with the city for about a year to earn approval for construction on a 10-acre site. The city's parking requirements, however, require that Wal-Mart use an additional four acres. That land must be rezoned from high-density residential to commercial before the project can move forward.

The earliest the rezoning request could now be heard by the Planning Commission is Feb. 19. The commission would make a recommendation, but the final decision would be made by the Sandy City Council.

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