Lindberg told the regional council that city planners and governments should work to head off complaints by being more consistent in zoning decisions and setting quantifiable standards, rather than relying on judgment calls for individual developments.

He also said cities and counties need to do a better job in letting legislators know why zoning decisions are made and what issues city planners face. The Utah Property Rights Ombudsman, a state official who investigates developers' complaints about local zoning decisions, often issues reports to the Legislature outlining accusations of governments being unreasonable. Lindberg said that tends to give lawmakers only part of the picture.

"If you're constantly getting those reports," Lindberg said, "what are you likely to believe?"

But Hutchings maintains the complaints are closer to the norm than the exception.

"It's amazingly common," he said. "The unfairness, unfortunately, is amazingly common, especially in some jurisdictions."

Hutchings said the substitutes to SB170 were compromises that fell short of what developers really want. Developers still would like specific deadlines for zoning decisions. They also want zoning requests to be approved unless cities and counties can show in court or before the state ombudsman that projects would be harmful.

Property owners and lawmakers plan to spend the next few months talking to representatives from the Utah League of Cities and Towns and the Utah Association of Counties to try reach some kind of agreement, in preparation for any new bills that may enter the battlefield.

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E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com