Chalk one up for the little guys. A group of Heber residents has succeeded in placing a citywide vote on big-box retailers on the November ballot.

The Wasatch County Clerk's Office on Monday finished certifying a stack of nearly 1,600 signatures of Heber residents for a voter referendum. According to Wasatch County Clerk Brent Titcomb, the final tally was 1,424 verified signatures, far exceeding the 1,160 required.

Now, whether a Wal-Mart has a future in the small mountain town of Heber will be up to the voters.

Residents will have a chance to vote in November on allowing retail outlets larger than 60,000 square feet into their community. The City Council passed an ordinance allowing those giant stores in February.

"Something of this magnitude should be decided by the people who are going to be affected by the Wal-Mart store that's coming in here," said Ken McConnell, a member of the grass-roots group Put Heber Valley First! that formed in opposition to the ordinance.

The Boyer Co. is planning to build a 70-acre mixed-use development off Main Street. It would include Wal-Mart as the anchor tenant.

McConnell notes the referendum is not just against Wal-Mart, but all giant retailers that may locate in their quiet bedroom community.

"We won't be a hometown community anymore. We'll be like the rest of the big cities" if a big-box store makes its home in Heber, McConnell said. "Many of us who have moved in for this country atmosphere, it could be gone."

Plans for the Wal-Mart will be on hold until the November vote, said Wade Williams, Boyer's director of retail development.

Boyer also faced a referendum against one of their Wal-Mart-anchored, mixed-use developments in 2005. A group of Sandy residents tried to prevent the developer from building a Wal-Mart in the city's old gravel pit. The citizens' group eventually lost at the ballot box, 53 percent to 47 percent.

Boyer plans to show off its site plans to residents before the vote. McConnell said Put Heber Valley First! has not stopped fighting.

"We're up against a multibillion-dollar corporation. It's Goliath. We'll have to put up our best fight because they've got millions to spend on advertising and we don't," he said. "We've got a lot of homework to do, a tough fight ahead of us if we want to try and defeat this giant."

Mayor Dave Phillips said the City Council has been trying to balance the interest of its residents, some of whom complain there is little shopping in the city, while others want Heber to retain its small-town charm.

"There are some good stores in town, but there are just a lot of people that are leaving the valley to shop," he said, adding the referendum doesn't mean people are against retail development. "They made it pretty obvious that they're against the big-box and want smaller retail."

The council, however, is worried about residents of the 100-unit Pleasant Valley Trailer Park, where the Wal-Mart would locate. Boyer has not yet closed on the land, but the owner has sent out eviction notices for tenants to clear the park by June 30.

"To me, that's the bigger issue than whether this thing passes or not," Phillips said, adding they're "searching for answers" through various groups to help assist residents.

Now that a vote on the referendum will happen, Boyer is looking into working with landowner Doug Heiner and working out a later move-out day for the residents. That idea was pitched by the mayor and City Council at last Thursday's council meeting, where the council voted 4-1 to rezone the trailer park and surrounding land for the project.

© 2007 Deseret News

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