NORTH SALT LAKE — Instead of listening to the public, city officials have a history of catering to developers, according to Stan Porter, chairman of the North Salt Lake Planning Commission.

In a controversial debate over 100 acres of foothill open space, that history is repeating itself, he said. Mayor Kay Briggs and the City Council have had several "closed-door" meetings with developers to hear potential sell-prices for the land.

"It would go better if we had public support," Porter said in an interview Wednesday. "We don't know what the public support is."

In an April 29 letter — obtained through an open-records request — Porter asked that Mayor Briggs and the City Council stop meeting with developers. The planning commission should make that contact and advise the City Council, he said.

Porter further wrote that planning for the 100 acres has taken an "ugly course" since Salt Lake City denied a request last year to annex the land into North Salt Lake.

North Salt Lake owns 20 of the contested acres, but 80 are within Salt Lake City's borders. On Tuesday, the Salt Lake City council denied another request to transfer control of the land to North Salt Lake. They also directed staff to change zoning on the land to forbid development.

"It appears that with one of our first real opportunities to do some real planning, the city is going back to a course of planning by developers," wrote Porter.

"It appears to me that both the mayor and City Council have made the decision to skip both many and important steps. It appears that the decision on what is going to take place with the 100 acres will have been decided long before any details are brought for debate to a professional planner, the planning commission, and more importantly the public."

Mayor Briggs denied any suggestions that he and the City Council have bypassed public process. Development plans have never been requested in closed-session, he said.

Also, when the city revised its general plan, an outside planner was hired and public comment was sought, he said. Two weeks ago, the city parks and trails committee held an open house to gather input on the 100 acres and other area projects.

"The only thing we've asked developers to do is determine a value," said Briggs. "We have never met and asked them what they would do."

Legally, a public body can meet in closed-session to discuss lawsuits, personnel issues or the purchase or sale of city-owned property.

In a May 5 reply to Porter, Briggs added that he does not represent any developers and has "no interest in doing anything without public comment and open debate." His motive is to bring needed cash to the city, but also preserve open space, said Briggs.