But he is "noncommittal" on his support or opposition, for now.

"I think the overall view is, at this point, there's just not enough information that's out there to really make any kind of informed response. We can talk hypotheticals. But I just don't know. It's way early in the game. Three years? That's a lifetime."

Despite opposition by residents in Sandy, Riverton, Ogden and Centerville, eight Wal-Mart Supercenter's and one neighborhood market opened last year in Utah. Currently, there are 24 Wal-Mart Supercenters, four discount stores, five neighborhood markets, seven Sam's Clubs and three distribution centers in Utah, bringing the total number of state Wal-Mart employees to approximately 17,747.

Wal-Mart has just one store in Salt Lake City, located on the southeast corner of 300 West and 1300 South.

In his 2005 State of the City speech, Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson chided Wal-Mart for depleting local businesses and paying employees low wages.

"We will do all we can to support the interests of our local businesses, working people and taxpayers, now and into the future, rather than spend public money on Wal-Marts," he said. "We must all understand the damage the Wal-Marts of our nation have done to local communities and their locally owned businesses — and the ways in which taxpayers often end up subsidizing their low wages and lack of decent benefits, including health-care coverage."

McFarland said she is excited for the open discussion with Wal-Mart. During the spring International Council of Shopping Centers convention in Las Vegas, McFarland said she was particularly impressed with Wal-Mart's plan to reach out to the communities they build in. When asked during a panel discussion about taking over small communities, she said Wal-Mart had the best answer.

"Wal-Mart was probably the most encouraging as far as talking about how they want to work project-by-project, city-by-city and work with the community to create something for everybody," she said. "I think there's a bit more sensitivity now to what goes into communities."

Although Kmart does not release sales records for individual stores, spokesman Stephen Pagnani said the store was not underperforming, because all of the stores in that category were closed when the corporation filed for bankruptcy.

As for the next three years, "Most of our properties are leased and sometimes they do sell, but that does not affect the store."

In 2003, Kmart exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as Kmart Holding Corp. And in 2004, Kmart combined with Sears, Roebuck and Co. in an $11 billion deal.

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Contributing: Associated Press

E-mail: astowell@desnews.com