Summit landowner appeal is dismissed

A federal racketeering lawsuit that two developers and eight landowners and trusts filed against Summit County was dismissed by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week.

The Snyderville Basin landowners and land-use attorneys were appealing a March decision by the 3rd District Court. The complaint was one of several filed against the county in 2004 and 2005 by the various parties, including Anderson Development and Evergreen Development. They charged that a zoning ordinance passed in 1998 was illegal, discriminatory, unfair and incomprehensible.

But the appeals court on Tuesday agreed with the district court and said Summit County's zoning laws are not extortion.

"County officials merely engaged in the normal administrative duties required to enforce the zoning ordinances," according to the 17-page ruling.

Plaintiffs accused the county of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) through the county's ordinance, which allows for incentive zoning. That type of zoning, also known as performance zoning, lets developers increase the units per acre on a piece of property if they add certain amenities to the community, such as affordable housing, trails or school funding.

Plaintiffs allege that the county's zoning ordinance "constitutes a pattern of extortion."

But the appeals-court ruling said, "We find no basis for such an approach in RICO's text nor in the legislative history of the act."

Current Summit County code calls for land to be zoned as one unit (or home) per 20 acres. But most developers seek higher density for the increased profits.

The plaintiffs' complaints began in 2004, when landowner Nadine Gillmor sued the county for $10 million after the county denied home-development plans on her 300-acre property. She said she donated land to the county for a school and road and was told by the then-commissioners that this could develop at four units per acre.

In 2005, neighboring landowners and two developers, who have options on the pieces of property, joined the lawsuit, seeking up to $150 million in damages. Together, the developers and landowners have nearly 2,000 acres in the Snyderville Basin.

Sandy-based Anderson Development has sued the county at least a dozen times in the past five years. Most of the cases are still pending. The rest have been dropped.

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E-mail: astowell@desnews.com