When West Hills supporters sued Kamas City and residents opposed to the incorporation last week, they included a request for a temporary restraining order (TRO).
They wanted Utah District Judge Ted Stewart to force the city council to rescind an April ordinance formally opposing West Hills and supporting the Kamas Valley Preservation Association (KVPA), a group campaigning against the proposed town.
Stewart denied the request for a TRO Sept. 2, saying the West Hills supporters had not proved they were at risk of immediate and irreparable harm.
“Further cutting against ex parte relief is that [the landowners] waited several months to assert that the resolution, which passed in April of this year, presents an emergency,” the judge wrote.
Attorneys for KVPA and its members also argued that repealing the ordinance would change the status quo rather than preserve it.
No hearings in the case have been set.
The lawsuit was filed Aug. 28, by an LLC called The Preserve through a law firm founded by one of its owners, Sam Castor.
The Preserve contends Utah law requires the city to be neutral and should not have codified its opposition to West Hills in an ordinance.
The Preserve wants a jury to hear the case and is seeking economic damages under state and federal anti-racketeering and conspiracy laws.
Attorneys for the residents it sued have questioned that legal theory and deny there was anything secretive about the Kamas City Council’s April resolution.
Neither Kamas City nor Mayor Matt McCormick have responded to the lawsuit.
The Preserve owns 266 acres within the 3,600-acre boundaries of what could become West Hills. Forty-seven voters there will decide whether to incorporate Nov. 4, although KVPA has filed its own lawsuit to keep it off the ballot.
An attorney retained by KVPA and its current and former members, Michael Judd, is a shareholder at Parsons, Behle & Latimer, which is a financial supporter of KPCW.
