As Sandy residents prepare to head to the ballot box in November, all sides in the battle over how to develop a 107-acre gravel pit are accusing the others of using the idea of a park to dupe and confuse voters.

Mayor Tom Dolan says a group of residents initially said the choice was between big-box retail development or a massive city park.

"They knew from the start it wasn't going to become a park," Dolan said. "I'm calling them into accountability for misleading the public."

It never happened that way, countered Roy Ostendorf, a member of Save Our Communities (SOC) and a Sandy business owner.

Says SOC member Robyn Bagley, the park was only a dream that was in play in the initial rounds of the debate. But, she says, everyone agrees that land prices rule out such a large, regional park.

"This issue is still about big box," she said.

Executives of The Boyer Co., which owns the land, want to build a Wal-Mart and a Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse, along with a smattering of smaller retailers, restaurants and 330 housing units. They point out that their plans also include creating 21 acres of open space with a trails system.

Development of the gravel pit, located at 1000 East and 9400 South, has been a hot topic for more than a year in the Salt Lake County suburb. SOC members argue the area is the wrong place for a Super Wal-Mart and a Lowe's.

To put a halt to Boyer's plans, SOC gathered enough signatures -plus a favorable opinion from the Utah Supreme Court - to put the future of the gravel pit on the November ballot.

But voters won't be choosing between a park or a Wal-Mart. They will be asked to decide on how the land should be zoned.

They can support a zone change that the City Council passed in November that made way for the big-box retailers. Or, voters can keep the zone as it had been for 18 years, when it allowed for houses, hotels and schools, among other things.

Like SOC, Boyer and the potential retailers will be looking to tell voters what the real issue is.

"Our objective is to get what we believe the good information is, out there," said Scott Verhaaren, a Boyer project manager.

jsantini@sltrib.com