This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2005, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A group fighting a Spanish Valley luxury-resort development lost in the Utah Court of Appeals Thursday. The Moab Citizens Alliance sued over the annexation of state-owned education-trust lands into southeast Grand County in 2002. The annexation was to allow the creation of the Cloudrock Lodge luxury resort and a condominium development proposed for Johnson's Up On Top mesa. A district court dismissed the lawsuit in 2003, and the appellate judges on Thursday upheld the action, finding the alliance did not follow state law requiring a written protest of the annexation. The Grand County Council approved the annexation on the condition the state water engineer approve a pending water-rights transfer that would provide water to the development property. Moab Citizens Alliance members had hoped stopping the annexation would stop the development. - Elizabeth Neff
