A rocky time in Sandy over old gravel pit

For a person who grew up in Sandy listening to the Beach Boys in the '60s, it's hard to believe that the old gravel pit is stirring up so much trouble.

Equally hard to believe is that anyone would be willing to pay the $40 million developers are rumored to be ready to shell out for the 107-acre property if and/or when the old gravel pit is rezoned to allow for a development that would include restaurants, shops, a park and housing units bookended by a Wal-Mart and a Lowe's Home Improvement Store.

If only I'd known. I'd have bought that eyesore when they were giving it away.

The question, as anyone in Sandy not living in a gravel pit knows by now, is whether the old gravel pit should have its zoning changed to accommodate the proposed high-density, big-box development. A referendum on the ballot in this November's election will ask voters that very question.

What makes this different than most zoning debates, however, is who the debate is between. Usually, the arguing is between the developer and the anti-developers. In this case, the anti-development faction — organized as a group called Save Our Communities — is fighting the city government, which last November gave its OK to the rezoning.

The battle over the old gravel pit, then, is Sandy vs. Sandy.

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Wistfulness being what it is, if I still lived in Sandy I'd probably vote for the old gravel pit to stay an old gravel pit. But I'd also vote for my old high school, Jordan High, to not be a movie theater and for my grandma's house on State Street to not be a payday loans business. For that matter, I'd vote that my father's farm be turned back to sugar beets, as long as I don't have to thin them.

But growth is growth, and Sandy is a far cry from the farming community that used to be smaller, believe it or not, than Midvale. The city fathers gave the green light to developers a long time ago, setting the tone for little old Sandy to become one of Utah's largest and most highly developed cities.

Some would call that selling out, but the reality is that development was inevitable for a place within easy sleeping distance of downtown Salt Lake City.

Through the years, decisions regarding development have been left to elected officials whose job is to consider the big picture and overall welfare of suburban Sandy.

But by getting the rezoning question on the ballot — thanks to a petition representing 10 percent of the city's population — Save Our Communities has been able to wrest from the City Council the power to make the zoning decision on the gravel pit.

The Utah Supreme Court has said this is legal, even if it does make something of a mockery of a representative form of government.