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CEDAR HILLS, Utah (AP) -- Residents will vote in June on whether they will allow a store -- should the community get one -- to be on open on Sundays or sell beer.
The City Council agreed Tuesday night that two initiatives calling for the restrictions will go before voters on June 28.
The city has been divided by the two issues since the City Council decided two months ago not to ban alcohol sales or require businesses close on Sundays.
The action came while it appeared that Cedar Hills would get its first supermarket -- a Smith's Food & Drug. The company announced two weeks ago that it was dropping the plan.
While the plans still were under way, a group of residents formed The Coalition to Preserve Cedar Hills and circulated petitions to get the two initiatives on the ballot. As of Tuesday, the coalition had collected 500 signatures. It needed only 393.
The council decided Tuesday that the ballot measures will use the language in the initiatives.
"Putting this out for consideration in June, I think it would be great to just get this over with," resident Brooke Curtis told the council. "And I encourage you to please keep the language that the citizens have been confronted with."
Councilman Darin Lowder said it only made sense to use the coalition's language.
"I think we should keep that because otherwise why is everyone going though all this."
But he did wonder whether other options should be on the ballot, such as allowing alcohol sales but with restricted hours.
Mayor Mike McGee said it made the most sense to him to have a "yes" or "no" question for the ballot rather than giving people several options to choose from.
Councilman Jim Perry said he wants people to vote on the initiatives in part to stop some of the controversy and stop the finger pointing.
Resident Suzie Shumway said, "We are told we can't legislate morality. I want to point out that every law we have has to do with a right and a wrong."
The Sunday closure proposal provides for businesses in commercial zones to operate only between Monday at 6 a.m. through Saturday at 11 p.m. Exceptions would be allowed for police, fire, medical and other emergency services, newspaper, radio and television services, senior care facilities, public lodging and funeral homes.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
