This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2008, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Utah Constitution says that two groups can make laws: the Legislature and the people. The first group is trying to cut the second group out of the process. That isn't right, and the Utah Supreme Court should put a stop to it.
This year, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 53, which says that the voters of any county, city or town may not initiate a land use ordinance or a change in a land use ordinance. That's the right of initiative we all learned about in school.
For good measure, the Legislature also said that the people may not require a land use ordinance passed by the local legislative body (city council or county commission) to be submitted to the voters for approval before it can take effect. That latter process is called a referendum.
This bill, which was passed virtually without opposition in the Legislature and signed quickly into law by Gov. Jon Huntsman, is an insult to the plain wording of the Utah Constitution, which reserves the rights of both initiative and referendum to the people.
In 2002, the Utah Supreme Court commented that "the power of the Legislature and power of the people to legislate through initiative and referenda are coequal, coextensive and concurrent and share 'equal dignity.'" It follows that the Legislature can't take that power away from the people in defiance of the Utah Constitution.
Why would the Legislature do this? To help developers, of course. In the delicate balance between private property rights and community interests, the Legislature is putting its thumb on the scale to favor property.
Private property rights are a foundation of the republic. But when one property owner does something that profoundly affects his neighbors, and their property, there's got to be a balancing process. That's where local planning and zoning laws come in.
SB53 passed during a bitter fight in Beaver County over the redevelopment of Elk Meadows Resort into the $3.5 billion Mount Holly Club. The citizen effort to make that project the subject of a referendum will provide the test case for SB53 before the Utah Supreme Court. The outcome of that case also will affect an initiative petition in Sevier County targeting a proposed 270 megawatt coal-fired power plant near Sigurd. Both of these projects will have far-reaching effects on the neighboring communities.
In both fights, the people should have the right to seek a direct voice at the ballot box, and the Legislature should not be allowed to muzzle that voice.