With the preliminary injunction temporarily stopping the construction of the Wasatch Peaks Ranch (WPR) development, it was a great day for the Utah Constitution and the people’s fundamental referendum rights. However, negative consequences to real people and real lives will result. This is sad and unfortunate, but the responsibility for such was in the hands of Morgan County and WPR. The preliminary injunction was a self-inflicted wound as a result of Morgan County’s and WPR’s failure to respect the constitutional tolling of the challenged ordinance.

The people’s reserved legislative authority to co-legislate through the initiative and referendum process is entitled to the equal respect and dignity to that of the County Commission (formerly the County Council). The continuing referendum saga is a direct result of both WPR and Morgan County failing to honor such and instead pursuing a political objective to squash the referendum. This precluded a fair and unbiased analysis of the application, and this resulted in an overreach in the law, over-litigation, and four years of delays while WPR constructed its resort without the benefit of the required Resort Special District zoning. This construction compromises the ability to have a fair and balanced referendum, damaging the people’s fundamental constitutional rights. The place we are at today is because Morgan County and WPR continued to violate the constitution with the continued construction of its resort, even after the court validated the referendum application.

Some have blamed the sponsors for this mess because they chose to defend and protect the people’s fundamental constitutional rights from an attack intended to deny the people their right to vote on one of the most significant, impactful, and consequential zoning decisions in Morgan County’s history. It is not the sponsors who wrongfully rejected the referendum application, created four years of protracted litigation in an effort to invalidate the application, issued illegal approvals, and then acted on those illegal approvals to construct the resort while the referendum was pending. With a pending referendum, the County and WPR have acted in violation of the law and at their own risk.

Cindy Carter, Whitney Croft, Shelley Paige, Brandon Peterson, Dave Pike, Robert Bohman

Morgan County

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