SANDY - Another $25,000.

That's how much Sandy officials were going to charge Beverly Watson to subdivide her 2.5 acres so she could build a second home. The cash would pay for an eventual expansion of Dimple Dell Road (10600 South) and bury overhead power lines.

"There went my home," Watson said, addressing the financial burden the fees would place on her.

Watson's home-building dream, however, has been revived. She got Utah's property rights ombudsman, Craig Call, involved. Call learned Sandy employees were unfairly equating Watson to a subdivision developer. Such developers are required to supply infrastructure to meet the needs of the families they add to a neighborhood.

Watson's bill has since disappeared.

Enter U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch. He stood in Watson's front yard - with a handful of other Utah politicians - on Tuesday and proclaimed that using an ombudsman is how such thorny issues should be resolved. And, he unveiled federal legislation that, if passed, would create similar resolutions across the county.

Hatch's Empower More Property Owners with Enhanced Rights Act of 2005 is modeled after Utah's 8-year-old ombudsman's statute.

"It's a simple model, but it has been an outstanding success," Utah's senior senator said.

The federal legislation is a response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling two weeks ago that upheld the right of communities to condemn property of owners unwilling to sell to make way for private economic development.

Although the two-week-old ruling had no impact in Utah - state law prohibits the use of eminent domain, except where providing public services is involved - the high-court decision has been viewed as stripping away rights of private-property owners.

Hatch's plan is to create a federal ombudsman who can mediate disputes that arise when the federal government is using eminent domain.

Such an ombudsman, Call says, can be an independent resource who can force the feds to the negotiation table. "Under the state law and the proposed federal legislation, [government officials] have to talk to me."

Meanwhile, in the Watson case, Sandy officials rewrote regulations and no longer equate single-home builders like Watson to large-scale developers.

jsantini@sltrib.com

Hatch's proposal

Sen. Orrin Hatch's proposed legislation would:

Force the federal government to show appraisals to land owners

Give an ombudsman the authority to order additional appraisals

Permit the ombudsman to assist in arbitration

Allow any disputes to enter mitigation before a lawsuit is filed

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