[This story was updated to reflect a change in the court hearing to 8/10/20 at 9:00 a.m.]
Summit County was successful in securing a temporary restraining order against the Town of Hideout, preventing it from moving forward on annexing part of Summit County. The Temporary Restraining Order was signed Tuesday by Fourth District Court Judge Jennifer Brown. In the order, the Court wrote it was persuaded that Summit County will suffer irreparable harm if the status quo isn’t maintained during the litigation; and the threatened injury to the county outweighs the damage that the proposed temporary restraining order may cause Town of Hideout. The court also found that a temporary restraining order is in the public interest, especially if Summit County’s statements, made in its complaint, are factually accurate.
Summit County sued the Town of Hideout Friday, alleging Hideout was deceitful and underhanded and kept the county and the public in the dark about its annexation plans until it was too late. Hideout is a small town on the northeast shores of the Jordanelle Reservoir in Wasatch County.
While lawmakers are expected to repeal the legislation that allowed Hideout to annex across county lines without the approval of Summit County, the Hideout Town Council had plans to approve the annexation before the legislature meets in special session.
Summit County’s success in obtaining the restraining order will stop that from happening until lawmakers can have a second look, and possibly repeal, what they approved in March.
A court hearing is scheduled for August 10th at 9:00 a.m. to determine whether the temporary restraining order against Hideout should be dissolved or converted to a preliminary injunction. The hearing will be held virtually. The state legislature plans to meet in special session on August 20th.
Summit County has the property zoned for limited residential development. The developers, Nate Brockbank and Josh Romney, had an application for a rezone into Summit County, but withdrew it just days before the planning commission was scheduled to consider it. Days later, Hideout revealed its annexation plans.
Summit County asked the judge to block that action, arguing Hideout violated the Open Meetings Act, concealed the annexation issue, and intentionally misled the public, which should nullify the vote.
Hideout officials say the town followed all applicable laws and they did nothing wrong.
Brockbank and Romney, who is the son of Utah U.S. Senator Mitt Romney, hope to build a mixed-use development at Hideout called “North Park,” which includes more than 200,00 square feet of commercial, 100,00 square feet of office space and 25-hundred residential units.
Meanwhile, residents of an adjacent Wasatch County development, Park’s Edge, are meeting Tuesday night to discuss Hideout’s annexation plans, which HOA president Jeff Sterling says will definitely impact their neighborhood. That meeting will be held at a community park in Park’s Edge tonight at 6:30, at 13315 Alexis Drive, located to the west of S.R. 248 near the corner of Alexis Drive and Jordanelle Parkway.
