Bluffdale loses land fight

Citing a "dysfunctional" city-planning process and a political climate where residents' resistance has thwarted compromise, a judge ruled Monday that 40 percent of Bluffdale's land is free to secede.

But the city's attorney sees another political climate at work — one in which developers' wishes are weighed more heavily than a community's values.

In his decision, 3rd District Judge Anthony Quinn wrote that developer South Farm had worked long and hard to gain approval from Bluffdale officials to continue the Rosecrest mixed-use development, already nearly built-out in nearby Herriman, into the land it owns in southwest Bluffdale. Despite a "Herculean" effort by the city and developers in the past year, negotiations have failed, largely due to the objections of the citizens' group Bluffdale United, he wrote.

"Bluffdale City's zoning and planning process was characterized by unreasonable delays and changing standards," Quinn wrote. "Bluffdale's current political environment precludes an orderly development process."

But Mayor Claudia Anderson and city attorney Dale Gardiner said the ruling is simply pro-developer.

"We feel like it's a free development culture we live in now," Anderson said.

Gardiner said the city will appeal the decision to the Utah Supreme Court, and "I'd bet the ranch the case will be reversed."

The land in the disconnection lawsuit is about 3,900 undeveloped acres, about half of which is owned by the developers of Rosecrest and their associates. The other 2,000 acres are owned by other landowners, none of whom objected to the disconnect.

"We're gratified," South Farm president James Lee Sorenson said. "It's been a long, hard ordeal. There's a bit of mixed emotion, because we also feel badly for some of the people (in Bluffdale) and the leaders there we'd worked with to come to a settlement."

In his decision, Quinn wrote, "By all accounts, the Rosecrest Development is a successful and attractive mixed-use development, representing high standards of land-use planning."

But many Bluffdale residents object to the density of the development. Bluffdale is a traditionally rural suburb, almost entirely made up of homes on 1-acre or larger lots. The developer's plans call for an overall density of 2.6 units per acre, with some areas as dense as 18 units per acre.

South Farm bought the land in the 1980s. At the time, half of the land was in Bluffdale and half in unincorporated Salt Lake County. The unincorporated part was later incorporated into Herriman and developed.

Since then, South Farm has gone to Bluffdale officials several times, seeking general plan amendments and zoning changes to clear the way for Rosecrest's extension.