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A major apartment complex planned near Gardner Village (1200 W. 7800 South) is back before the West Jordan City Council, after it was convincingly rejected last spring. The new plan includes changes aimed at overcoming the persistent objections of neighbors and if that doesn't work, the developer is ready to press a lawsuit to get the 224 apartments built.

The revised plan for the development near a TRAX station and Jordan River trailhead is scheduled for council consideration Wednesday night, but officials say a vote may be postponed to Oct. 8 to ensure all seven members are present.

Colosimo Brothers Development has made a number of changes to its design, adding plans for 9,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space in one of the seven buildings proposed for the 11-acre project, a lowered profile for the apartment buildings closest to a neighborhood on the west (from four to three-and-a-half floors), reduced surface parking and design alterations aimed at better matching Gardner Village.

"It's a good plan," said Tom Burdett, city development director. "I think it satisfies most of the [complaints] we received with the first plan."

He added, though, that after two recent public hearings, "I'd have to say there's 10 to a dozen neighbors that are still concerned with the new plan."

Burdett described the revised proposal as an "appropriate compromise" that he hopes will win approval of the City Council. He wouldn't make a prediction on how that vote will go. Neither would Mayor Kim Rolfe, who also is a voting member of the council, and who was among the 5-2 majority rejecting the first proposal in April.

"I can't comment on how I'm going to vote," Rolfe said.

He said the revised plan appears to be an improvement, then added, "I think there's always room for improvement on a [planned community.]"

Residents of a nearby neighborhood have continued to raise objections, saying the buildings are still too high and the occupancy too dense. They believe the development would cause traffic overload and cut off mountain views. They fear it still lacks enough open space and doesn't fit into the area.

Developer Joe Colosimo responded in a written statement last week. He said the opposition from a handful of residents — he estimates 13 — is not sufficient legal grounds to block the project.

"If .01181 percent of the population of West Jordan can stop a development that your professional staff has correctly determined to comply with all applicable codes, I suggest that it will be hard to develop anything in West Jordan," Colosimo said.

He also forcefully denounced residents' suggestions that the city restrict the number of apartmentsto the absolute minimum acceptable to the developer.

"That philosophy is morally repugnant to me as a Utahn and an American," he said. "I do not believe, and I trust that you agree, that it is not the role of government to try to minimize the amount of money a private landowner can make by exercising what the Utah Supreme Court has held to be essentially a sacred right to use his or her private property."

Colosimo is represented in his lawsuit by Bruce Baird, who contends that the project met all the city's legal criteria and that the council's denial was "arbitrary, capricious and illegal."

Little activity has happened in the suit since Colosimo filed it in late April. The parties have agreed that if the revised development plan is approved, the court case will be dismissed.