Can cities stave off court fight?

As a trial date nears in a lawsuit over 80 acres of foothill open space, the cities of North Salt Lake and Salt Lake City appear to be negotiating a possible settlement.

North Salt Lake sent out a public notice Thursday that the two cities would be meeting together on Tuesday to "discuss pending litigation." Less than 24 hours later, a second notice was sent out canceling the meeting.

Lisa Watts Baskin, a North Salt Lake councilwoman, said Friday that the meeting did involve the fight over open space. She declined to give further details, except to say: "We are hopeful that there is a way to negotiate this rather than have the courts have to handle this."

Meanwhile, North Salt Lake is hedging its bets and working with state Sen. Dan Eastman, R-Bountiful, on a bill that would allow a city to annex land it owns in other cities without the permission of another city, if certain requirements are met.

North Salt Lake owns the 80 acres that are the subject of the lawsuit, but the land lies within Salt Lake City's boundaries and jurisdiction. In 2005, North Salt Lake filed a petition with Salt Lake City to annex the land into the Davis County city's boundaries, with the aim of developing a portion. Salt Lake City wanted the land preserved as open space.

Both cities sued each other in 2005. North Salt Lake's lawsuit seeks to disconnect the land from Salt Lake City's borders. A trial date in that lawsuit is set for Feb. 20.

Salt Lake City's lawsuit seeks to have a portion of the land condemned so that it could not be developed. No trial date has been set. Salt Lake City attorney Ed Rutan declined to comment Friday because the litigation is ongoing.

The Salt Lake County Council has taken a stand. In November, the council passed a resolution declaring that even if the court disconnects the land from Salt Lake City, making it part of the unincorporated county, the council intended to retain the parcel's zoning as open space and would not sign off on its annexation into North Salt Lake.

In an interview Friday, North Salt Lake city manager Collin Wood declined to elaborate how Eastman's bill, SB130, would affect the lawsuit between the two cities. "If you want a quote, you're going to have a tough time getting it from North Salt Lake," he said, adding that the city hoped to "see something happen as far as the legislation is concerned."

Salt Lake County Councilman Joe Hatch called the bill "very short-sighted and very bad planning." He said the measure seems to take sides in the pending lawsuit and suggested that, if it passes, it could backfire.

Salt Lake City could turn the tables on other cities by buying land and then annexing it.

"What's good for the goose is good for the gander," Hatch said. "Does the Legislature really want Salt Lake City to use its open-space funds ...to start buying up land on the edges of Davis County?"

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