The Sandy City Council's discussion on developing a local gravel pit is more than just a Sandy issue. Wal-Mart's leadership said back in early October that they were interested in building their huge supercenters only three to five miles apart. The proposed development in Sandy is less than three miles from their store in Midvale. With studies saying this would add more than 21,039 new trips in an around the east Sandy area, I have to ask myself if anyone should have to put up with the impact this has on traffic, our quality of life and the entire retail business community.

I don't think Wal-Mart's master plan is compatible with reasonable, responsible economic growth. Wal-Mart's leadership also said that once Wal-Mart saturates the United States with supercenters, the company can continue its growth by building "neighborhood markets," smaller, grocery-store format. Wal-Mart looks like it wants to be the "convenience store" of the future. But do residents want traffic jams at every major corridor and 200,000-square-foot convenience stores?

City and county governments should take the time now to evaluate where these types of big boxes are best placed. Most cities place them on the border. I would love to see the folks at Envision Utah work with the state and city to make some recommendations that cities can consider on zoning and growth issues. Intelligent planning is better than mindless sprawl.

Gary Forbush

Sandy