A lawsuit citing the Fair Housing Act brought this week by Salt Lake City-based attorneys Michael Hutchings and Bruce Baird is nothing more than litigation strategy for big-money developers, said Dave Thomas, assistant Summit County attorney.

The action challenging Summit County zoning laws was brought on behalf of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Utah Coalition of La Raza and the Disabled Rights Action Committee.

In announcing the federal court suit, Hutchings recalled King's struggles for affordable housing in the 1960s civil rights movement. The Fair Housing Act was passed April 11, 1968, in the wake of King's assassination.

Hutchings and Baird have seven other lawsuits pending against Summit County. Among them are suits for Anderson Development, which seeks a commercial center at Silver Creek Junction; and for Nadine Gilmor, who wants to develop 300 upscale houses on her Snyderville Basin land.

The county's zoning ordinances are standing in the way of those proposals.

"For Hutchings and Baird, it's just another way to put pressure on Summit County for clients who want more commercial and residential density," Thomas said.

But Hutchings countered that it is Summit County that is playing the race card - by creating zoning regulations that exclude all but the wealthiest Utahns.

Hutchings pointed to Park City's aggressive affordable-housing program and 19.6 percent Latino population out of 7,400 residents, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. By contrast, unincorporated Summit County has a Latino population of 8.1 percent out of nearly 30,000 residents.

"The cumulative effect of Summit County's zoning policies has resulted in a community that is significantly more white, non-disabled, non-senior citizen, non-single parent and non-diverse than the rest of the state," Hutchings said.

The law firm is representing the civil rights organizations at no charge. It was Hutchings that approached the groups, rather than the other way around, said officers for La Raza and the Disabled Rights Action Committee.

La Raza's Archie Archuleta said he had no idea that Summit County has about 1,800 housing units that meet Fair Housing standards, or that it has approved about 600 more units of affordable housing in conjunction with new developments, according to its latest inventory.

"We asked a lot of questions [of Hutchings and Baird] before we went into it," Archuleta said. "From what we were told, there wasn't much affordable housing."

But in a Jan. 31 letter to La Raza, Thomas said that Summit County's development code requires affordable housing in each new project. He listed recent developments that contain affordable housing, including Redstone, Newpark, Foxpoint and Bear Hollow.

A new project approved this week, Aspen Highlands, will include 9 percent of its density in affordable housing to comply with Summit County's code, Thomas noted.

Nonetheless, Archuleta said, the county's program is falling short.

"We've gotten a lot of complaints from people working in Summit County who can't afford to live there. The bottom line is, we want to see more affordable housing."

Barbara Toomer of the Disabled Rights Action Committee conceded that the law firm and civil rights organizations were "strange bedfellows," but that board members didn't care as long as the lawsuit yielded more affordable and accessible housing.

"There is a need . . . and that's what we're seeking," Toomer said. "It has to be affordable, accessible and available. And a lot of times [in Summit County], it isn't."

The Summit County Commission passed the Snyderville Basin Development Code in December that effectively down-zoned development to one house per 20 acres. Under the previous code, it was possible to attain densities of 2.5 units per acre.

County planners say they urge clustering of development in so-called "town centers."

That philosophy provides for open space and mandates that affordable housing be incorporated into each new development.

While Summit County is less ethnically diverse than Park City and some Wasatch Front communities, it has more minorities than similar resort counties in other Western states, Thomas said.

He cited Census statistics that reveal Teton County, Wyo. - surrounding Jackson Hole - has a Latino population of 6.7 percent. Pitkin County, Colo. - encompassing Aspen - has a 7 percent Latino population compared to Summit County's 8.1 percent.

"There is no discrimination in Summit County with regard to housing and zoning," Thomas said.

csmart@sltrib.com