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Posted: 3:35 PM- By a 3-2 vote, the Moab City Council has opened its doors to big-box retail.

The council previously had scrapped a proposal that looked to be a compromise between big-box advocates and those who would ban them outright. That plan, forwarded by the Moab Planning Commission, called for limiting large retailers to 75,000 square feet.

But the council passed an ordinance this week that allows big boxes of 200,000 square feet - large enough for a Wal-Mart Supercenter.

"It was imperative the city do it," said Councilman Rob Sweeten, who voted for the ordinance.

Also voting in favor were council members Gregg Stucki and Kyle Bailey.

Jeffrey Davis and Sarah Bauman voted against it.

Sweeten was among those who feared that if Moab - the gateway to Arches National Park in southeastern Utah's Grand County - didn't allow for a Wal-Mart Supercenter, one would be built just south of town in San Juan County.

That would mean, Sweeten explained, that Moab would get the impacts of the discount giant but none of the tax revenues to offset them.

Concerns were heightened, Sweeten said, when Wal-Mart approached officials with the state's School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration about its holdings south of town in Spanish Valley.

"It's a sad thing to see," said Moab resident Chris Baird of the new ordinance. He had successfully petitioned for a moratorium on big boxes until an ordinance could be formulated.

A Wal-Mart might not enhance the city's sales-tax revenues if it hurts existing business, he noted. Further, Baird fears, a mega-retailer actually could hurt the area economy because it could diminish Moab's unique character.

"Resort towns, especially, need to preserve their senses of place," he said. "It's that sense of place that brings people here and drives the economy."

Mayor Dave Sakrison, who only votes in the event of a tie, said he would have preferred a smaller cap on big boxes in Moab. A limit of 120,000 square feet had been bandied about.

"I would have preferred a smaller size, but I can see why they went ahead with it."

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