Judge W. Brent West agreed that simply listing records as "correspondence," "draft correspondence" and "draft agreements" did not give the Sierra Club sufficient information about the documents the city refused to provide.

The environmental group sued the city a year ago after it refused to supply records of communication with the Utah Transit Authority and investor Chris Peterson, whose plan to build luxury homes and a resort with a gondola on Ogden's east bench has been shelved.

The Sierra Club was trying to find out about any feasibility studies and if taxpayer money was involved.

West said Utah law requires the city give enough detail about the records it wants to keep secret for the Sierra Club to determine whether the records indeed are exempt from disclosure.

Club volunteer Dan Schroeder called West's decision “a major victory.”

"If the government didn't even have to describe records it withholds, there would be no way for the public to tell whether the government is interpreting the law correctly. Any record at all could fall under a vague one-word description like 'correspondence,' ” Schroeder wrote in an e-mail.

kmoulton@sltrib.com