The Wasatch County Council passed a new ordinance April 19 to accommodate the temple the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints plans to build right outside Heber City.
The plaintiffs asked the court to overturn the ordinance on two grounds:
First, the plaintiffs alleged the county failed to comply with multiple GRAMA requests for public records on the temple project. In particular, they sought the release of the consultant’s recommendations.
According to the complaint, that report is dated Dec. 19, but the county didn’t release it to the public until April 6. That was the day after the final public hearing on the ordinance, and after the plaintiffs had made numerous requests for the report starting in early January. Because of those alleged GRAMA violations, the plaintiffs said the county enacted the updated ordinance in violation of federal or state law.
Second, the plaintiffs appealed to the County Land Use, Development, and Management Act (or CLUDMA), which allows anyone negatively impacted by a land use decision to appeal to a district court within 30 days. That law requires a land ordinance to provide at least a “reasonably debatable” benefit to the public’s general welfare.
The plaintiffs said the new lighting code does not benefit county residents because the consultant’s recommendations were withheld from the public, and the updated ordinance doesn’t reflect all of his recommendations.
The county filed a motion to dismiss the complaint June 16.
In response, the county said it was very careful in creating the updated ordinance, and sought public input well beyond what was required under Utah law. It said it did make staff reports and drafts of the updated ordinance available to the public before public meetings and hearings.
The county also said it responded to records requests with “many public records, provided that the records were responsive to the specific public records requested.”
The county said the plaintiffs did not follow proper procedures in making many of those records requests, or in appealing the denials. No denials were appealed to the State Records Committee for judicial review, which is an essential part of the GRAMA process. So the plaintiffs failed to use all of the remedies at their disposal, which is required to receive “judicial relief.”
And the county said even if it had failed to comply with GRAMA, that didn’t mean the ordinance wasn’t in the interest of the public welfare. And the same was true for the fact the ordinance didn’t reflect all of the consultant’s recommendations. The county said there was more to the public’s general welfare than simply the degree to which dark skies are protected. Other factors also need to be considered, such as the impact to public safety from inadequate lighting, the costs of enforcing the code and the desires of the public.
The county also said that the “apparent real intent” of at least some of the petitioners was to prevent construction of a temple at the site, regardless of what the county did with the lighting ordinance. According to the county, when public meetings were held on the topic, many of the commenters focused on the temple project itself, contrary to the request of county leaders to focus on the lighting ordinance.
Editor's Note: This story has been corrected to say the proposed Heber Valley Utah Temple will be located in Wasatch County, just outside of Heber City limits. This story previously stated the temple would be located in Heber City.
