Petitioners protest UTA vote for chairman

SALT LAKE CITY — A residents' petition with about 250 signatures will be presented to the Utah Transit Authority's board of trustees on Wednesday, protesting the vote expected to make Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper, its chairman.

"It's a very generic petition," said Claire Geddes, a UTA watchdog who has collected signatures. "We don't want them putting anyone on the board who has a conflict of interest."

Trustees are expected to vote Wednesday on making Hughes, who has served on the UTA board since 2006 and in the Utah Legislature since 2002, the new chairman after the term of Chairman Larry Ellertson expires.

But Hughes, who owns property near the 900 South TRAX station, dismisses the criticism of his conflicts of interest with UTA.

"You don't want board direction that would improve infrastructure to be approximate to property you own," he said. "That wouldn't be the case here."

The petition that will be presented to the trustees doesn't use Hughes' name.

"We could probably get tons (of signatures) if we have more time," Geddes said. "I just wanted to show there was interest out there."

Public outrage for the organization is at a high, Geddes said, since UTA announced plans to build a future FrontRunner commuter rail station on the site of a 3,000-year-old Native American winter camp near environmentally sensitive land by the Jordan River.

UTA envisioned the land would become a "transit-oriented development" of housing, office and retail space, developed by trustee Terry Diehl, who refrained from voting on that particular station in Draper because of his conflict of interest.

UTA is now building the station to the north, after Gov. Gary Herbert turned the original site into a conservation easement. But allegations of conflict of interest remain, and the Office of the Legislative Auditor General is conducting a "mini audit" to determine whether a full-blown conflict of interest audit is necessary.

Geddes said she believes many Salt Lake County residents understand the complicated issues.

"Everybody's willing to sign (the petition)," she said. "I'm surprised how many people know what's going on down there."

Hughes, however, told the Deseret News editorial board Monday afternoon that construction of his multi-family housing development, managed under the name Urban Chase Property Management, was after the 900 South station was built.