Sandy pulls plug on Wal-Mart RDA

SANDY — A Wal-Mart big-box development on Sandy's gravel pit will no longer be pumping money into redevelopment of the city.

City officials nixed the redevelopment agency plan for the area this week to "honor a compromise" on a Senate bill that puts a one-year hold on all RDAs not under way by Feb. 15. Although Sandy leaders had the RDA area — at about 9400 South and 1300 East to 700 East — mapped out before the cutoff date, city spokesman Ryan Mecham said the city wanted to show support for the Legislature's measure.

"In the spirit of compromise, we wanted to put the brakes on, give a chance to look at the alternative and move forward in cooperation," Mecham said.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, originally would have banned all RDA dollars from going toward retail development. But a diluted version of the bill, which evolved as part of a compromise with city leaders, only puts a one-year moratorium on retail RDAs.

Bramble said Sandy city leaders indicated in the early stages of negotiations that they would halt their RDA plans if the bill cast a less-broad net over retail RDAs. Bramble said the cities' show of "good faith" to follow through on that promise is a positive step when other cities are still trying to find loopholes in the one-year suspension.

"The original bill had some pretty substantial restrictions on any RDAs of any kind," Bramble said. "I think what Sandy is doing is honoring the agreement."

The tax reform task force is set to pick up the RDA discussion over the next year, focusing on defining what retail is an appropriate use for RDA tax increment funds and creating a narrower definition of blight.

"If we prohibit all retail, you would not be able to have a Gateway," Bramble said. "But it's different when Sandy and Draper try to give away their tax base to get a new auto dealership."

Most important, Bramble said the task force needs to craft language to address abuses of RDA law when cities sacrifice property tax from school districts in exchange for sales tax revenues.

The Sandy RDA on the gravel pit was one of those abuses, Sandy resident Robyn Bagley said. Bagley, who created the Citizens Coalition for RDA Reform, said the city never needed to subsidize development that likely would have occurred naturally.

The Boyer Company, which is developing the big-box project at the gravel pit, declined any RDA funds when the city first initiated the blight study. The city planned to use the money to rejuvenate the Sandy Corners area at 9400 South and 700 East that includes the Sandy Mall and several other stretches of retail.

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