CEDAR HILLS — Wal-Mart representatives say the company is willing to spend money to reconfigure its proposed Cedar Hills superstore to appease upset residents.
The redesign would include disguising the auto shop area as an old-time garage and having trucks make deliveries at a recessed loading dock.
But the biggest change targets the store's front and side facades, which will resemble a series of old-fashioned Main Street shops complete with gables, awnings and faux windows.
The intent is to provide a better fit for the small but upscale community.
The company has drawn the line, however, on operating hours and the store's interior size: the store will be open on Sundays and cover 158,000 square feet.
Shel McPherson of PacLand Development, which is representing Wal-Mart in the site plan approval process, said Wal-Mart wants to be a good neighbor and blend in.
"I've never seen them (Wal-Mart) do this much for anybody," McPherson said. "We agree that this is a unique setting, so what we're proposing is a community store, not a regional store. We're trying to fit in."
PacLand representatives showed proposed plans to planning commissioners and residents on Thursday night.
McPherson said the access to the road east of the project could be closed and that compressors would be surrounded by sound walls with special baffles to significantly mute the noise.
He said the superstore concept, however, requires a defined amount of space to work properly, and the company insists that store operating hours be consistent nationwide.
Residents opposing the Wal-Mart argue that the building is simply too big for the small north Utah county burg. They worry about the safety of children, increased traffic and noise, and they disapprove of the company doing business on Sundays. They said the new plan is simply a different dress for the same problems.
The group also claims that Cedar Hills officials are departing from design guidelines for the city's commercial zone, guidelines they said they relied on to protect their home values. Those guidelines state that no store will be larger than 50,000 square feet.
"It's one hundred percent the wrong location," said resident Dolores Bateman. "It's crazy to put this between two schools."
"There's an image to Wal-Mart that we don't want for Cedar Hills," said Darin Lowder, also a resident.
But it wasn't all opposition at the meeting. "I'm pro Wal-Mart. I think they have done a bang-up job," said resident Don Griffiths.
The proposal is currently in the hands of the town's planning commissioners, who voted Thursday night to table the matter until they can review sound, light and traffic studies.
The proposed store would go on 18 acres located on the corner of 4800 West and Cedar Hills Drive in Cedar Hills' lone shopping center zone. The site is across the street from Lone Peak High School and just a few blocks east of Cedar Ridge Elementary.
"We have a balancing act to perform here," said Planning Commissioner Steve Kroes. "Whatever we do has to be based on sound logic."
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