CENTERVILLE -- When protesters recently showed up at a Centerville City Council meeting with big signs saying "No Pep Boys!", Councilwoman Francine Giani Luczak thought for a second that something "really vile, like a porno shop" was being protested.
Then she saw a sign that said "Francine Luczak isn't listening," and that really grabbed her attention."We've never had a protest like that at the Council," said Luczak.
Two weeks later, what began as a protest against a new Pep Boys auto maintenance shop coming to the Centerville Market Place has developed into a public feud between Luczak and David and Allison Bell, owners of Dave's Import Auto Service, located just south of the Market Place.
The Bells say they resent the fact that the city a few years ago imposed severe limitations on the number of service bays their business was allowed to have facing Frontage Road.
"Francine Luczak said she didn't want my building here . . . They wanted to pick the cinder block and colors for my business," said David Bell.
Now, however, the city is willing to overlook a prohibition on businesses with repair bays at the Centerville Market Place "because the big-money boys asked them to," said Bell. Luczak has been one of Pep Boys' most vocal supporters, he added.
An amendment to the Development Agreement between Centerville and the Dayton Hudson Corp., dated Dec. 18, 1997, includes among the permitted uses at the Market Place a "gasoline station (excluding repair bays)." However, on Dec. 1, 1998, the Centerville Council unanimously approved the Pep Boys proposal, effectively superceding the implied limitation on repair bays.
"Our attorney reviewed the (Pep Boys) proposal, and I didn't see any problem with it," said Mayor Frank Hirschi, adding that the Bells opened their business under the previous administration.
Luczak denied having told David Bell that she didn't want his business there. "I voted in favor of his business," she said, also pointing out that all buildings face limitations by the city.
As far as the councilwoman is concerned, one of the motivations behind the protest has been the Bells' desire to keep a competing business out of the Market Place.
"It's absolutely ridiculous for one business to try to use a secret tactic to keep another business from coming in," Luczak said. "Competition is the American way."
Luczak also believes she has been targeted by the Bells because their business has been involved in two complaints reviewed by her in her capacity as director of the Utah Division of Consumer Protection.
According to Luczak, Allison Bell and some 14 protesters came into the Council chamber on Dec. 1 and sat silently at the back holding up their signs. None of them signed in or requested to speak during the meeting. After a local newspaper photographer took their picture, they left the room.
When Luczak found out from a reporter during the meeting that Allison Bell was the leader of the protest, she felt it was her duty to announce that fact from the dais, she said.
Luczak said she had previously spoken out in favor of Pep Boys but that she hadn't been the only one on the Council to do so. Therefore, she didn't appreciated being targeted. She also didn't appreciate a critical letter about her sent by the Bells to a Davis County newspaper.
Allison Bell said Luczak had referred to the protesters in an "inappropriate" manner and told a reporter that the reason they were there was to keep a competing business out. She also denied that she had tried to conceal her identity at the Council meeting.
David Bell denied wanting to keep Pep Boys out because it's a competing business. "I'm a European engine shop. We're totally different businesses," he said.
He thinks it would have been more appropriate for Luczak or the Council to invite one of the protesters to explain their position. But, despite everything, he thinks Luczak is doing a good job as a councilwoman and as an official of the Division of Consumer Protection. He expressed a wish to bring the feud to an end.
For her part, Luczak also said she would like to see an end to the matter, but she'd like to get a public apology from the Bells first.
When Pep Boys comes in, David Bell plans to talk to them to see if he can get some referrals, he said.
As for Luczak, she said she plans to be at the Pep Boys ribbon cutting "with bells on."