All that effort appears to be for naught. Development foes failed by 1,500 signatures to force a referendum on whether to undo a zoning change that accommodates a Super Wal-Mart and a Lowe's home improvement center on what now is a gravel pit.

On Tuesday, the Salt Lake County Clerk turned over an analysis of the petitions submitted by the citizens group Save Our Communities. Sandy's clerk counted 6,425 valid signatures when 7,940 were needed.

"We are really stunned," said Rob Hughes, an attorney representing the citizens. "We were confident we had close to 9,000 signatures."

Now Save Our Communities plans to use one of its few options left to request a recount. While Hughes doesn't accuse the city or the county of any impropriety, he wants to know why the 1,500 names were ruled invalid. He has been told that most were from people that didn't live in Sandy.

Hughes hopes to take a sampling of the disqualified signatures to determine if that is the case. If it is, "then it's virtually over," he said.

From the city's perspective, the size of the gap is convincing enough.

"It's not like it's 15 signatures," said Sandy spokesman Ryan Mecham. "It's 1,500."

The gravel pit became a hot issue as soon as The Boyer Company announced plans to development on the 100-acre tract at 9000 South and 1000 East. The Wal-Mart and Lowe's would occupy about half of the land, while the rest would be used for a park and more than 400 housing units.