A supermarket has been very much on residents' minds since April when Smith's Food & Drug dropped its plan to open a store on 18 acres between Cedar Ridge Elementary and Lone Peak High School.

Those who voted down the twin ballot proposals to ban alcohol sales and Sunday business contend their action opens the door to commercial development. They say it is now up to developers to sell businesses on the merits of doing business in Cedar Hills.

Officials with Rimrock Development, the company developing the 18 acres, said Wednesday that they have already had conversations with a range of interested stores.

"Until this [vote] was all decided upon, virtually no one wanted to show interest," said Rimrock's Steve Broadbent.

"Now we can really start moving forward. The vote was positive in that it doesn't limit who can go in there at this point of time."

Broadbent would not name interested companies. But it's no secret which businesses considered the land before Tuesday's election.

Smith's Food & Drug pulled out of the site when controversy bubbled up over beer and Sunday operations, and officials maintain they are now pursuing other options and have no immediate plans to reconsider.

But Smith's spokeswoman Marsha Gilford says the company won't close the door permanently on opening a store in Cedar Hills.

"If the vote had gone the other way, it wouldn't be as attractive, most definitely," Gilford said Wednesday.

The vote has likely produced competition for Kohler's representatives, who have considered locating a store in Cedar Hills and agreed to split the cost of a market feasibility study with Rimrock's Mark Hampton before Tuesday. Hampton decided to delay the study until after the vote, but whether the study happens now remains to be seen.

Kohler's Steve Miner says Tuesday's vote "doesn't change our level of interest one way or another."

"We still have an interest in pursuing that," Miner said, "but again, we don't have the option on the property. That's up to the developer."

Even with the vote, Miner added, Kohler's owner Doyle Kohler likely would elect to close on Sunday if he put a store in Cedar Hills.

Land prices, which are often pricier in Cedar Hills than in neighboring communities, may play the largest factor in which grocer is able to cut a deal with Rimrock.

Lee Abbott of Harvest Fresh Natural Food Stores called the beer and Sunday initiatives "red herrings," and said they haven't been the determining factors in his company's consideration of Rimrock's commercial site.

"We're only interested in Cedar Hills if the numbers work," Abbott said. "A company as big as [Smith's] . . . . or Wal-Mart can afford to lose money on a store for a while. Someone like us can't do that. We need to see a profit from day one."

thollingshead@sltrib.com