On tap: an initiative petition to pressure elected officials into drafting laws to bar stores from selling beer or doing business on Sunday. Or voters will do it for them in November.

There have "never been alcohol sales allowed in the past, and we want to keep it that way,” resident Gary Duncan said Wednesday.

Duncan is part of the Coalition to Preserve Cedar Hills, a 50-member group leading the petition drive in response to the City Council's recent refusals to ban beer and Sunday sales.

A Smith's supermarket, which probably would sell beer and stay open on Sundays, is slated to open in 2006 on 18 acres at the corner of 4800 West and Cedar Hills Drive. The town, just north of Pleasant Grove, has no grocery or convenience stores.

Coalition members accuse some on the council of flip-flopping on alcohol and Sunday sales to avoid scaring off the “only grocery store interested in Cedar Hills.”

“We find it disappointing that some of the same council members who committed in their campaign literature to support a six-day commercial-zone policy, have had what we can only hope is a temporary moment of amnesia,” Coalition member Ken Cromar said. “Their support of the six-day work week and alcohol ban is in part what got them elected, but the citizens' vote will undoubtedly secure the necessary ordinances - with or without their help.”

The coalition accuses city leaders of selling out the town's high standards and ignoring Kohler's and other grocers who want to comply with the community's conservative mores. Most in Cedar Hills are members of the LDS Church, which shuns alcohol and Sunday shopping.

Mayor Michael McGee, however, counters that the only contact the city has made with grocers is with Smith's. He said other retailers, including Kohler's, turned down the opportunity to open a store there six months ago.

“Now this group is claiming that Kohler's has had a miraculous change of heart when there is zero indication that is the case,” said McGee.

Steven Miner of Associated Foods Stores Inc. said his group did an informal study of opening a Kohler's in Cedar Hills, but found the “numbers did not support it” and that the developer was already committed to Smith's. “The best thing Smith's could do for the community is listen to them, Miner added.

Neither Smith's officials nor developer Mark Hampton could be reached for comment.

Councilman Jim Perry, who helped defeat the proposed booze ban in March, accuses the coalition of misleading residents. He said the city can neither choose a grocer nor interfere with Smith's contract with the developer.

Perry also objects to the coalition painting Kohler's out to be noble for not selling beer or opening on Sunday at its store in nearby Highland, which bans both practices.

“Kohler's store in Lehi sells alcohol,” Perry said. “So to assert Kohler's is morally superior to Smith's is horrible and has no basis in fact.”

Duncan, however, says Smith's is welcome - as long as it bows to the wishes of the community.

Coalition members, including Council members Rob Fotheringham and Jim Parker, submitted initiative applications for alcohol and Sunday business bans to Cedar Hills Recorder Kim Holindrake - the first step in getting the issue placed on the ballot.

In 2003, some coalition members led a successful ballot initiative to overturn a tax hike and require residents to sign off on tax increases and bonds proposed by Cedar Hills. Cromar said they will not allow alcohol sales either.

“It's simply not going to happen in Cedar Hills.”

meddington@sltrib.com