Opinion ID: 2640723
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: history of the dispute

Text: ¶ 4 In the 1980s, the entity now known as South Farm LLC (South Farm) purchased a large, contiguous tract of property for investment and development; one-half of the property was located in unincorporated Salt Lake County (the County) and one-half was located in Bluffdale City. South Farm originally sought to have this entire property annexed into Riverton City so that it could be developed as a consistent whole. But Bluffdale objected and ultimately denied the annexation. ¶ 5 South Farm applied to the County to begin development of the unincorporated portion of its property located outside of Bluffdale. This process included public meetings with neighboring communities. In August 1999, over Bluffdale's objections, the County approved a general plan of development for the property. The property was ultimately incorporated into the City of Herriman, however. Since then, the property has been largely developed and is currently known as Rosecrest, which includes approximately eighteen subdivisions and two thousand residential units. By all accounts, the Rosecrest development has been an attractive and successful mixed-use development, representing high standards of land-use planning. ¶ 6 The Bluffdale portion of the South Farm property has not proceeded as smoothly toward development. In October 1997, Don Wallace, a managing member of South Farm, appeared at a public meeting to answer questions regarding South Farm's plans for its property in Bluffdale. South Farm desired a similar mixed-use development to the one it had established in neighboring Rosecrest. Bluffdale had long sought, however, to limit residential and mixed-use density, preferring lot sizes of one to five acres for residential homes. Indeed, many Bluffdale citizens opposed South Farm's plans, both during and after the meeting, and up until May 2002, Bluffdale officials dissuaded South Farm from presenting any development plans with respect to its property. ¶ 7 Nevertheless, Bluffdale also recognized the need for long-range planning, given the inevitable development pressure it would face from the growth in the southern area of the County. Bluffdale prepared capital improvement plans, transportation plans, water plans, drainage plans, and other plans to establish the future look of the City. Bluffdale desired to have its future planning in order before it invested the necessary resources to consider a project of the scale intended by South Farm. ¶ 8 Given Bluffdale's limited resources, the planning process was time consuming. From South Farm's perspective, progress was excruciatingly slow. Indeed, many of Bluffdale's plans remained either unfinished or unadopted up to the time of trial. Bluffdale persuaded South Farm to hold off on filing any applications for an amendment to the City's General Plan that would allow development of the property. Bluffdale was working toward completion of its planning process; however, there were clearly elements within the City that were hostile to Rosecrest-like developments. The district court made note of the reasonable inference that some foot-dragging was taking placewhether intentionally or as a result of the natural human tendency to defer consideration of issues that are likely to be contentious. ¶ 9 During this slow planning process, Bluffdale encouraged South Farm to produce a Quality Growth Plan. In preparing this plan, South Farm held numerous public meetings with representatives of the City and other stakeholders. In September 2001, South Farm produced a draft of a Quality Growth Plan, and although never formally adopted by Bluffdale, it gave South Farm hope that a Rosecrest-like development was within reach. For example, the Quality Growth Plan approved recommended densities as high as 2.5 residences per acre throughout the South Farm property, provided that a thirty-five percent open space requirement was met. But the Quality Growth Plan was by no means an unequivocal endorsement of a Rosecrest-like development; the plan acknowledged Bluffdale's commitment to a rural-like atmosphere and a strong preference for developments with minimum lot sizes of one acre. ¶ 10 In the fall of 2001, Shane Jones, the City's engineer, approached Wallace for an easement across South Farm's property for a twelve-foot water line needed to service newly developed portions of the City. Before those discussions were complete, a contractor hired by the City trespassed on South Farm's property to begin work on the water line. Bluffdale urgently needed the water line to address water pressure and fire protection issues in Gardner Estates and other new developments in the northern section of the City. In order to obtain the needed easement and resolve the trespass issue, Bluffdale and South Farm discussed a trade of the easement for the adoption of planning policies that would allow South Farm to develop its property consistent with the existing Rosecrest development. In the context of those discussions, during a Bluffdale City Council meeting, Greg Curtis, the City's attorney, advised the City Council that if they were not comfortable with the mixed-use Rosecrest development in Herriman, they should not vote for the proposed resolution. Furthermore, Curtis stated that if the City did not provide infrastructure for new development, property owners could make a compelling argument to disconnect. ¶ 11 On January 8, 2002, the Bluffdale City Council unanimously approved Resolution No.2002-05, which resolved the easement issue and provided the following statement of good faith: [South Farm] has agreed to provide the requested easement without cost to the City, but in turn has requested a declaration of intent from the City as to the general acceptability of [South Farm's] future development of [its] real property which lies in the City. [South Farm] is in the process of completing an existing master planned project, a mixed-use real estate development in the town of Herriman which is contiguous and immediately adjacent to [its] real property located in the City and is desirous to continue the development of its Bluffdale property with similar mixed uses, density, and transportation elements as existed in its existing master planned project in Herriman. (b) Subject to the express continued administration of its legislative and regulatory authority over development of the [South Farm] real property and without waiving any of its future regulatory authority, the City declares its intent regarding the development of the [South Farm] property as follows: (1) That the best use of the [South Farm] property in the City is to develop the [South Farm] property with a mixture of uses, density, commercial, recreational, transportation and open space elements compatible with the Rosecrest property in the town of Herriman that is adjacent and contiguous to the [South Farm] property in the City of Bluffdale. ¶ 12 On December 21, 2001, before this resolution passed, Bruce Parker, the City's planner, wrote to Wallace to again dissuade South Farm from proposing a General Plan Amendment until the City's internal planning was complete. In essence, the letter provided two options: (1) wait until the City is ready or (2) propose a development consistent with the current zoning scheme. South Farm waited an additional six months and observed no significant progress toward completion of Bluffdale's internal planning. ¶ 13 On May 6, 2002, South Farm formally submitted its General Plan Amendment. The amendment was patterned on the principles of the Quality Growth Planalthough clearly beyond the letter of that planand consistent with the principles recognized by the City in the adoption of Resolution 2002-05. Bluffdale began immediate consideration of the amendment through its planning staff. Once again, because of the size of the project and the limited resources of the City, progress was slow. ¶ 14 On November 12, 2002, Bluffdale adopted a series of land use planning principles for Planning District No. 4, which included the same area as South Farm's property. Those principles included the following: Planning District No. 4 should generally provide opportunities for low density residential uses, with residential density of one (1) dwelling unit to one (1) acre and one (1) dwelling unit per five (5) acres being provided. Only in those areas located immediately adjacent to an existing and neighboring municipality, and only in order to recognize adjacent land uses and to provide the desired land use transitioning and compatibility, shall commercial, professional office, public uses and residential uses with densities greater than recommended by Policy No. 1 be considered by the City (emphasis added). ¶ 15 The meaning of immediately adjacent became an important area of contention. If that phrase was read narrowly to include only the narrow strip bordering on the existing Rosecrest development, it was significantly more restrictive than the recommendations of the Quality Growth Plan and a repudiation of Resolution 2002-05. On the other hand, if the entire South Farm property was considered immediately adjacent, a Rosecrest-like development was still possible in Bluffdale. ¶ 16 The following year, South Farm and Bluffdale discussed the General Plan Amendment during dozens, if not hundreds, of meetings, without any discernible progress toward amending the City's General Plan. Because of this apparent lack of progress, South Farm proposed outsourcing review of the General Plan Amendment. Bluffdale accepted this proposal and hired J-U-B Engineers, Inc. (J-U-B) and Tischler & Associates, Inc. (Tischler) to act as the City's consultants in reviewing the amendment. South Farm agreed to advance the cost of their work. The consultants completed their report on or about July 7, 2003. Dozens of meetings were held to address the concerns raised in the J-U-B/Tischler report. ¶ 17 By the time the General Plan Amendment was ready for consideration by the Bluffdale City Council, South Farm had invested almost one million dollars and thousands of hours in the planning process. On December 9, 2003, the City Council finally considered the General Plan Amendment. The City's planning commission recommended adoption of the amendment. The consultants, J-U-B and Tischler, also recommended adoption of the amendment. But the City Council voted to reject the General Plan Amendment based upon a narrow reading of the planning principles that had been adopted for Planning District No. 4. ¶ 18 Many property owners in the area proposed for disconnection wanted to develop their property in a manner comparable to that of South Farm and had watched or participated with interest in Bluffdale's planning and development process. On February 12, 2004, fifty-two property owners, including South Farm, petitioned Bluffdale City to voluntarily adjust its boundary with the City of Herriman in order to move the disconnection property from Bluffdale to Herriman or, in the alternative, requested to disconnect the entire property from the City. The City rejected both requests. Thereafter, two of the property owners, Bluffdale Mountain Homes LC [1] and South Farm (the Developers), filed a petition in the Third District Court, seeking disconnection of the property pursuant to Utah Code section 10-2-502.5. ¶ 19 Notably, throughout 2005 and during discovery leading up to trial, the property owners and Bluffdale attempted to resolve their differences and come up with a land use plan that would satisfy both parties. On May 24, 2005, the Bluffdale City Council approved a Memorandum of Understanding that set a framework for development of the disconnection property. On August 23, 2005, the City Council approved a Special Development Plan District Ordinance that was a necessary prerequisite to implementing the Memorandum of Understanding and would create a special development zone. But Bluffdale citizens opposing the development applied for a referendum to overturn the City Council's decision to create the special development zone. [2] In order to avoid the delay that would be caused by the referendum, the property owners and Bluffdale worked out a development plan agreement that would be implemented by a Consent Decree. The City Council approved the proposed Consent Decree, but once again Bluffdale citizens applied for a referendum to overturn the City Council's approval. On November 10, 2005, the district court rejected the proposed Consent Decree, viewing the decree as a political remedy outside the scope of the pleadings and its review of the grounds for disconnection.