A private-property victory

Nine years ago, when the outcome of their fight against Salt Lake County was still in doubt, Pearl Meibos and her sister, Alayna Culbertson, were trying to gain assurances from fire officials that they could respond to an emergency on the ridiculously tiny dead-end road the county and developer Hermes Associates had left in front of their house.

"I had a fireman say to me that they could send the 'little' trucks," Meibos told the Deseret Morning News back then. "I keep imagining this little fire truck pulling up with clowns jumping out and squirting the fire with their lapel flowers."

That was a rare moment of levity in a 14-year legal battle that led to a Utah Supreme Court decision this week. The court ruled unanimously in favor of Meibos and her sister. That was hardly a surprise. They have won every court case to date, even though it has cost them enormously, in terms of both money and stress. It was a fight started by the family father, Eugene Croxford, who refused to sell to the developer. He died two years into the battle, in 1993.

The victory this week means Hermes will have to rip up some of the Family Center at Fort Union, the consequence of violating county zoning laws so many years ago. Hermes also will have to provide landscaping and a genuine cul-de-sac in front of Meibos' house, one that ought to hold more than just the "little" trucks the fire department owns.

Hermes no longer owns the Family Center, but it is legally liable. And, although the developer's attorney told this newspaper that moving walls and buildings is a "possibility," the ruling means the company likely would have to come up with some amazing maneuvers to avoid doing just that.

It also means that Meibos and her sister have once again proven that, however difficult, it is possible to fight local government decisions and win, especially if the government allows deliberate violations of its own rules. In this case, county ordinances required a 42-foot right of way for streets along with a 20-foot landscape setback for buildings. When the Family Center was finished, Meibos ended up with about half that for a street, with no setback plus a 25-foot-tall wall she could almost reach out and touch from a window in her house.

Because of her case and others, state lawmakers eight years ago established the office of Private Property Rights Ombudsman, which helps people resolve disputes with their local governments. It is the only such office in the nation, and it symbolizes how important such issues are to Utahns.

Local ordinances ought to exist to protect and secure the safety of residents and other private-property owners. What happened to Meibos and her sister is a black stain on the history of Salt Lake County. No one should be steam-rolled in the interests of economic development. And no private-property owner should be told that the fire department might still be able to provide service with the "little" trucks.