The Hermes development was not a simple issue. It stands as the toughest issue I've faced in my 14 years in county government

Few people know that I was curiously qualified to hear the blight and zoning matter. I resided for over 11 years across from the Family Center site from 1979-90. I speed-walked by Eva Johnson's house hundreds of times during a much leaner part of my life. I shopped at Harman's. I banked at the Key Bank. When I bought batteries, it was at the Family Center Radio Shack. I knew the area well. It was my home.

A decade of hindsight has led me to the following conclusion: We were dead right on the zoning and designation of the RDA, and we were dead wrong in our diligence to make certain the development was done properly. Because the buck stops here, I accept the economic kudos the project brought the county, but I must accept the regulatory responsibility for the outcome.

There were enormous reasons to grant the zoning and the RDA. The Hermes project kept us from having to raise taxes. Hermes did own the property for a long time and had private property rights. The blight designation was justified from the many times I viewed the property from my neighborhood walks. The Fort Union area was already primarily commercial. Dozens of developments adjacent to this one were moving forward and more were being contemplated. And today, the area has become a commercial and financial center.

Few urban planners would fault the commission for having made the decision we made.

Where did it go wrong?

We should have worked out a more satisfactory arrangement on all of the egregious items mentioned in the litigation. We should not have granted the roadway standards or at least mitigated them. We should have had the leadership to bring these two warring factions to the table and solve the issues. For that, I am saddened.

I was too intent on preventing a tax increase. I sacrificed the good of a small group of people to the interests of the taxpayers of Salt Lake County. For that, I must humbly apologize.

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Randy Horiuchi is a member of the Salt Lake County Council.