Big-box battlers insist: 'We matter!'

Sandy resident Cynthia Long cringes every time she drives by the city's gravel pit.

Bulldozers are busy leveling the ground to make way for a big-box development. City leaders are reviewing site plans.

It's as if no one remembers she is fighting to block the Wal-Mart slated for the 107-acre lot at 9400 South and 1300 East.

"They're just moving along as if the citizens don't exist," Long said. "We want to say, 'Time out, wait a minute, we really do matter.' " Branded a "vocal minority" by Sandy city officials, Long and her group of Wal-Mart opponents crowded City Council chambers for months. But officials still voted to change zoning on the gravel pit to allow the big-box retailer to move in.

That decision has left Long wondering whether regular residents have any chance of blocking a Wal-Mart once it sets its sights on a city.

Although Long and her Save Our Communities group fell short on signatures to take the project to a citywide referendum, they were able to collect more than 6,000 valid names and have appealed to the Utah Supreme Court to allow a resident vote.

"How do you ignore that many citizens? That's pretty frustrating," Long said. "It's a slap in the face."

One of the main reasons Long opposes the big-box development is that the City Council had to change the gravel pit zoning to allow the project.

The scenario is similar in Riverton, where residents continue to fight for a referendum on a zone change that cleared the way for a Wal-Mart. A 3rd District judge said no to the referendum in late February, but attorneys have promised an appeal.

Al Norman, founder of Sprawl-Busters, said the struggle in both towns highlights the fact that residents have the best chance to stop a big-box development before cities make zoning laws.

"The best thing for citizens' groups to do is not be on the defensive, but be on the offensive," said Norman, who met with Wal-Mart opponents in both Sandy and Centerville last year. "You can stop superstore sprawl with one sentence: Retail buildings shall not exceed 60,000 square feet, and that's the end of the matter right there."

In a Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV poll, 89 percent of respondents said they agreed big-box retailers should be "limited to commercial zones, near major roads." The poll, conducted Nov. 29-30, surveyed 313 residents and has a 6.5 percent margin of error.

That attitude was recently reflected in South Jordan, where two Wal-Mart stores were approved with little resistance — a fact City Manager Ricky Horst attributes to the stores' compliance with zoning codes.