And the city - an official city only for two months - has jumped into the fray.

"Our goal has been to be a mediator," Mayor Kelvyn Cullimore Jr. said Tuesday.

The impetus for the latest round of fighting is a request by Construction Products Co. to add two additional storage silos - each capable of holding 300 tons of asphalt - to the gravel-pit site near the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon. The company currently has two silos there.

Nearby residents feared the request meant that operations were about to expand.

The Utah Division of Air Quality says the request will not come with a permit to increase operations. The division has added a new requirement that prohibits the company from loading asphalt into more than two silos at once.

That does little to relieve resident's longtime concerns over the operation's impact on health.

"I don't really care about the aesthetics," said Jackie Hibbard. "I care about the health effects."

The gravel pit, which sits on the east side of Wasatch Boulevard, is only half of the dispute. Relations between developer-property owner Doug Shelby and nearby residents soured years ago over operations on a 16-acre plot of land on the boulevard's west side. That land, which is used as an industrial dump, is adjacent to homes valued as high as $1 million. Residents have complained about burning on the site, what is stored there and toxins they worry could be leaching into groundwater.

"The big thing with the neighbors is Doug's attitude," said Don Antczak, whose council district covers the residential area. "He just doesn't want to talk to them, and he's very belligerent."

The city is working with state and county offices to check into the legality of what is happening on both sites.

"We're going to determine if sufficient air-quality testing has been done," said Bruce Jones, whose council district includes the gravel pit.

Residents say air-quality testing isn't being done while the gravel pit is in full operation. They also worry that tests are not being done in their neighborhood.

Recently installed into office, city leaders say they are in the best position to settle the dispute.

"If there are codes that need to be enforced, we do that," Cullimore said. "If there are rights that need to be protected, we do that."

jsantini@sltrib.com