The voters in Sandy will, after all, have the final say on whether two big-box retailers take over a 100-acre gravel pit on Sandy's bench. While a decision Friday by the Utah Supreme Court ordered the vote - it could be the first time Wal-Mart opponents in Utah use the ballot box to block a giant retailer - the ruling has implications beyond the southeast Salt Lake County community.

The court unanimously ruled that developers - in this case The Boyer Co. - that proceed in the face of clear and legal attempts by residents to turn back legislation are at risk of losing money and time invested.

"The exercise of the people's referendum right is of such importance that it properly overrides individual economic interests," reads the decision penned by Justice Matthew Durrant.

"To hold otherwise would lead to an absurd legal landscape where a municipality could circumvent the people's referendum right by enacting a legislative change - no matter how comprehensive - to zoning categories and then quickly approving development applications under the new legislation . . . The referendum right, so fundamental to our conception of government, should not and cannot be so easily thwarted," Durrant wrote.

The battle over the future of the gravel pit - located near 9400 South and 1000 East - erupted in the summer of 2004, when Boyer petitioned the city to change the gravel pit's zoning. Plans called for the two big-box retailers and more than 400 housing units - and a group of smaller retailers - to make a home there.

Residents came out by the hundreds to protest the plan. But the City Council voted 5-2 to approve the development, arguing that the addition was vital to the community's sales-tax base.

"The City Council did not listen to the people," said Steven Mouty, one of the residents who took the case to the Supreme Court. "They had another agenda. They wanted a tax base."

Within days of the council's decision, residents launched a signature drive to put the issue on the ballot - an effort that the city said required 7,940 signatures. Thousands had been tossed out because they came from nonresidents, resulting in only 6,425 valid signatures.

The Supreme Court ruled Friday that the lower number was enough. The city had required double the number of signatures that were needed, the justices ruled.

But Sandy officials took the decision with a what-me-worry attitude.

"We say, great," said Sandy spokesman Ryan Mecham. "Let's go forward and put it on the ballot."

Mecham said he is unsure when the City Council will do that. Save Our Community believes it should be part of the November general election.

Money that Boyer and the big box retailers have already invested in the project could be in jeopardy now if the residents vote against the development plan. Just how much? Boyer officials refused to comment Friday. Construction has not begun; Mecham characterized the work so far as "mostly paperwork and meetings."

The builders have been to Sandy's Planning Commission a number of times looking for site-plan approvals. Those discussions have been as detailed as haggling over the way cars are parked and where landscape planters are placed.

Win or lose on election day, at least one member of the residents' group already feels like the effort has made a difference.

"It just seems [like] a real victory for citizens to get involved in their communities." said Cynthia Long. "You can affect change."

jsantini@sltrib.com