Legislature puts end to incorporation rush

A rush by developers to incorporate new towns is effectively over.

Lawmakers passed a bill that closed up a town incorporation loophole that allowed developers to sweep in and start new towns without the consent of the people living in the affected area.

"A year ago, this Legislature made a bad mistake. HB466 was pushed through on the last day of the session," with no public input, Sen. Allen Christensen, R-Ogden, said. "I hope we never repeat this type of error again."

This year's cleanup bill, HB164, puts the people back in the town incorporation process. The bill defines several steps developers must go through to incorporate a town, and residents will have a say nearly every step of the way.

It's a nice fix to block future shoddy town incorporations, but people like the residents of Eden are flat out of luck.

They hoped legislators would make the bill retroactive and nullify any petitions to incorporate filed after Jan. 1. That would have effectively freed them from a petition by Powder Mountain developers to start a new town, with their homes in it whether they like it or not.

Now, the residents of the new Powder Mountain town and several communities in Wasatch County will not only have no say in whether they want to incorporate into the new town or not, but they will have no say in who governs them.

The law passed a year ago lets the developer appoint the town council, a clause several naysayers dubbed as "morally repugnant" and "downright evil."

"This law is monumentally unjust," Eden resident Darla Longhurst-Van Zebensaid. "The Legislature has realized this is a bad law. ... Here we are stuck in the middle."

Lawmakers debated adding a retroactive clause to the bill throughout the session to bail out Eden residents, but House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, insisted that lawmakers should not change the rules in the middle of the game. Several other lawmakers agreed.

If the Weber County Commission doesn't nix the petition, Eden residents are ready to sue, Jim Haley said.

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E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com