In the fight between a little fish and a big fish, the big fish usually wins.

In the pond of commercial development, often the big city wins. For little cities bordering bigger ones, getting commercial development -- and the sales tax revenue it brings -- can be difficult.

Cities like Santaquin and Mapleton all have bigger neighbors next door. It makes it difficult to keep the balance between residential and commercial development.

"We struggle because a disproportional amount of all the city's expenses fall to property tax," said Mapleton City Manager Bob Bradshaw.

The city has to take an aggressive approach to attract more commercial development. With Spanish Fork and Springville on each side, it's difficult.

Business usually goes by rooftops, and Mapleton simply doesn't have the rooftops its neighbors do, Bradshaw said. He said that 22 percent of Mapleton's revenue last year came from sales tax, a lot of which isn't generated in the city but distributed by the state.

Mapleton boasts 7,000 residents. Some of those residents, like Shiloh Sorenson, recognize the imbalance.

Sorenson, a developer and resident of 12 years, is buying land from homeowners for a grocery store on 2000 N. 800 West. He said he used to believe in the theory of keeping their city free from big development, but he said it's bound to happen, and it needs to happen.

"Mapleton is not balancing," he said. "Some others are. Springville is doing a good job of balancing, but Mapleton isn't. They have very little commercial base."

Developer U.K. Holdings just received city approval to build a small strip mall.

Like Mapleton, Santaquin has about 7,000 people and borders Payson, a city double its size.

The cities work together on traffic control and transportation but recruit commercial development separately, something which City Manager Stefan Chatwin said Santaquin takes a proactive approach. He said they try to not compete, but it happens.

"A lot of the business that Payson attracts can affect the business that Santaquin attracts," he said. He used the Payson Wal-Mart as an example. Santaquin residents benefit from the Payson Wal-Mart and don't need one of their own.

Trista Bishop, of Payson's economic development staff, said that her big concern is balancing industrial with commercial business, not about worrying that it will go elsewhere.

Santaquin is developing their general plan and will hold meetings this summer for public comment, but Chatwin said he believes property on the south interchange, and along Main Street will all be planned for commercial. He said they are taking careful steps to not become like every other city on the Wasatch Front.

"The advantage that Santaquin city has is that we've had the opportunity to watch the development in the north," Chatwin said, comparing his city to Lehi 10 years ago. "We're learning a lot from what they did. We're kind of at the beginning of it, we're kind of setting the foundation right now, so that we have the kind of community that we wanted."

And don't expect a moratorium from Santaquin any time soon.

"We encourage development, we love the developers," Chatwin said. "We want the developers to come in and get filthy rich."

Natalie Andrews can be reached at 344-2561. or nandrews@heraldextra.com.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.