Change to Bluffdale city limits is on hold

Bluffdale's city limits aren't changing — at least not yet.

Third District Judge Anthony Quinn ruled this week that his Feb. 27 decision allowing about 4,000 acres of Bluffdale to secede will be on hold until the state Supreme Court considers the city's appeal. The land now constitutes about 40 percent of Bluffdale.

Quinn ruled last month that the city's planning process was "dysfunctional" and slow, making it impossible for developers to get speedy answers on what they could do with their land. South Farm and Development Associates own about half of the land, all of which is undeveloped. Since Quinn's initial ruling, the developers have moved forward on plans to build on the land, knowing that the Supreme Court appeal could create a delay.

"We're smart enough to know we have to wait until it's finished to move forward," South Farm vice president Don Wallace said. "We fully expected there would be a stay, whether Judge Quinn issued it or the Supreme Court issued it."

Mayor Claudia Anderson, who gained support in November's election because of her opposition to the developments, could not be reached for comment.

South Farm and Development Associates for decades have attempted to gain approval from the City Council and planners to build on their Bluffdale land. South Farm owns the Rosecrest neighborhood in neighboring Herriman, and the company — a subsidiary of Sorenson Real Estate — wants to continue that development into Bluffdale.

Rosecrest is a mix of low- and medium-density housing and retail, with an average of about 2.6 houses per acre. Some areas are planned to be as dense as 18 houses or apartments per acre. In contrast, Bluffdale is made up of rural neighborhoods no denser than one house per acre, and many residents and city leaders have fought to block the developers' plans and preserve Bluffdale's rural character.

After the City Council denied a zoning-change request in December 2003, the developers filed the lawsuit seeking to remove their land from Bluffdale's control.

City attorney Dale Gardiner said Quinn's order on Monday to delay the de-annexation until the Supreme Court's decision will keep the process a little less chaotic. Without the stay, the developers could have begun to have their land annexed into Herriman and to seek approval for their developments, which Bluffdale would then have had to reverse if it prevailed before the Supreme Court.

"If we wanted to appeal, we would have had to undo the damage," Gardiner said.