The Cedar Hills City Council on Tuesday night voted unanimously to put the two initiatives, calling for a ban on beer and Sunday operations, on the ballot for a June 28 special election.

"The council appears to be having campaign flashbacks to the last election when they were attentive to the will of the community and promised to protect the six-day work week," said resident Ken Cromar. "The June vote will close this issue once and for all."

The decision came after numerous residents encouraged the council to put the initiatives on the ballot - in exactly the same wording that appears on circulating petitions.

Not one resident who spoke Tuesday opposed the initiatives.

"I feel like it would be great to get it over with. I think all of us are ready to get it over with," said Brooke Curtis.

Controversy over the topics has been brewing since March, when the City Council voted, 3-2, to allow beer sales and Sunday shopping. It deepened when the Coalition to Preserve Cedar Hills formed to stop both by petitioning to put the issues on the ballot.

And when Smith's Food and Drug - it wants to sell beer and stay open on Sundays - pulled out in late April because of the feud, the issue boiled over.

Initiative supporters gathered more than 500 signatures, roughly 100 more than required for ballot consideration.

Those who have spoken against the initiatives in past days wonder if banning beer and mandating businesses be close on Sunday have a higher price than most want to pay.

Terri Wiles, for one, is afraid the city will never get a commercial tax base.

"This has led me and my husband to look for land outside of Utah to retire in," Wiles said last week. The coalition is making it a "car-only community. When I get to an age where I can't drive, there will be no store or pharmacy within walking distance."

Coalition members have said Smith's departure will only open the door for other businesses that want to comply with community standards.

Harvest Natural Foods has expressed interest, via a letter to residents, in taking the space vacated by Smith's, but developer Mark Hampton has said the health-food store has yet to contact him.

thollingshead@sltrib.com