Government advocacy

2 February, 2019

From: Kathleen Mallis

Dear Neighbors,

We would like to update you on our status of the subject. As you are probably aware, we went through the referendum process protesting the development agreement between Tooele County and the developer. We were able to obtain the necessary signatures. However, the county denied our petition based on a legal opinion given by the county attorney. He states that the case law he reviewed indicates that a referendum must protest a legislative action such as a rezoning action passed by the county commissioners. In the case of Skywalk, the attorney deemed the development agreement to be “administrative’ therefore, it is not subject to a referendum petition.

After receiving this decision, a few of us discussed our options going forward. We could either accept the decision and try to negotiate our concerns with the developer, or obtain legal counsel to represent us in challenging the decision of the attorney. Our concern all along was that rezoning actions are occurring within the administrative process the developer and the county are using. It’s called a Planned Unit Development or PUD.

We chose to seek legal counsel and have hired an attorney. We made this decision based on the following:

The use of a PUD to develop is new to the county and they did not have a comprehensive ordinance in place to guide the process. They have since developed a more comprehensive ordinance but Skywalk is not subject to it.

Even though they are saying that our referendum protested an administrative action, we believe that taking 247 acres from A-20 agricultural zoning to a development of 984 dwellings is definitely a rezoning action.

We need to stand our ground and try to protect our way of life. The Skywalk developer and the county worked on the proposal for at least 2 years before we were even aware of it. It was a “done deal” before the first planning commission presentation on 1 November 2017. It is a “Daybreak” type of a community and absolutely does not blend with the current R-1 property designation of at least 1 acre.

The Utah legislature that is currently in session is pro development and is working on several bills that will make it harder for “the people” to protest. Our time is now.

Our attorney has a background in land use and he is on retainer. We are required to file a ___________ by close of business Monday, 4 February and he is working on getting this done. Going forward, our attorney has advised that we as a community will need to decide what our desired result is. They are as follows:

Do we want to push forward to get Skywalk on the 2020 ballot for a vote. If we chose this route, we will mount a campaign to obtain our desired outcome. All registered voters in Tooele County will be voting yes or no on this proposal.

We will have an option to negotiate concessions/settlements within the lawsuit but Skywalk would move forward. For example, one of our requirements would be that there would be no access or egress from or to the Golden Garden subdivision so that we can retain our current way of life within our community. Another may be a monetary compensation of some sort.

Neighbors, the developer is going to fight this lawsuit and it is going to cost money going forward. We would greatly appreciate anything that you could contribute to the cause. One of our neighbors was willing to advance us the $10,000 we needed for the retainer. Another of our neighbors worked very hard to find an attorney that was experienced in our issue, and that we felt we could afford. Based on what we learned going through this, we have gotten a very reasonable deal. It is also reasonable to assume that more funds will be needed as we move forward either to campaign for a vote or negotiate with the developer. We will be mounting a campaign to raise funds to support this and other actions that may arise in our fight to keep Erda rural but we really need your help now to fight Skywalk.

Erda Community Association, Inc., a non-profit organization, has been established at Mountain America Credit Union to collect donations for this extremely critical and life changing cause. 100% of every dollar contributed is being used to fight land-use actions. To contribute please go to erdaca.org. You can also go directly to the credit union or give money to one of us and we will deposit it. It is considered a donation and can be deducted on your taxes. Many of the team members (signature gatherers) fighting these land use issues have donated money and lots of time to get to this point.

We sincerely appreciate your willingness to support our actions. We made these decisions based on the desire of everyone in our community to maintain our way of life. This whole process is complex, so if you have any questions at all, please feel free to call or contact one of the following. Let’s get this done together!