24-hour Wal-Mart plan irks residents

Sandy residents who failed to block a Wal-Mart big-box project may now face the discount retailer operating around the clock.

A request by Wal-Mart to keep its doors open 24 hours a day at the city's gravel pit has many residents saying enough is enough.

"It's just never a level playing field. They keep changing the rules in the middle of the game," said Cynthia Long, head of the Save Our Communities group opposed to the development. "They just start chipping away at things once they get their foot in the door."

The request for extended hours of operation is part of the preliminary site plan that residents and Planning Commission members will get their first peek at Thursday night. The plan includes a 206,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter, Lowe's, a retail enclave and a residential subdivision.

Because the stores are within 250 feet of a residential neighborhood, the retailers must get a permit to operate 24 hours. In addition to longer hours, the proposal also asks for a conditional permit for a gas station and a Tire, Lube & Express on the Wal-Mart site.

After a neighborhood meeting last week on the proposal, Sandy's planning staff received numerous complaints about the 24-hour request. According to the staff report, residents' opposition included complaints that the "city has done enough to us by approving the development" and "the city doesn't care about our wishes."

Rachael Stone, who lives just west of the 107-acre gravel pit, said although she is worried about the noise of a 24-hour store, she's not sure the 24-hour request is even worth fighting.

"Obviously, we would prefer not to see it, but I don't see that one as a winning battle," Stone said.

Long, however, said she plans to oppose the 24-hour and gas station requests at Thursday's meeting. Both proposals, she said, are prime examples of why she has been fighting against the big-box development at 9400 South and 1300 East since it was proposed in May.

Long is still embroiled in a lawsuit against the city to allow a citywide referendum on the zone change that opened the door to the development.

"The noise from the site is pretty huge, and what happens good in a store after midnight?" she said. "I just think that it's not necessary."