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Zoning Bulletin May 10, 2010 1 Volume 41 No. 9 <br />A group of citizens (the "Citizens") challenged the passage of Ordi- <br />nance 454. The Cloudrock Development was located on a mesa above <br />an aquifer that served as the "main source of culinary water for Moab, <br />Utah." Among other things, the Citizens alleged that the amended de- <br />velopment would injure their health because it would "result indan- <br />gerous increases of pollution in the water delivered to their property— <br />water they drink and use to cook and clean." <br />CLC contended that the Citizens lacked standing to challenge the <br />Council's passage of Ordinance 454. CLC maintained that the Citi- <br />zens' failed to allege "a personal and particularized injury, but rather.. <br />alleged nothing more than injuries that are common to everyone who <br />lives within the water district served by the [aquifer]." <br />Finding there were no material issues of fact in dispute and deciding <br />the matter on the law alone, the district court ultimately issued sum- <br />mary judgment in favor of. CLC. <br />The Citizens appealed. <br />The Coures Decision: Judgment of district court reversed; matter - <br />remanded. <br />The Supreme Court of Utah held that the Citizens did have standing <br />to challenge Ordinance 454. <br />^� The court explained that challenges to county land use decisions— <br />such as the adoption of Ordinance 454—were governed by the Utah's <br />County Land Use and Development Management Act ("CLUDMA"). <br />The Citizens would have standing to challenge the Council's decision <br />to adopt Ordinance 454 under CLUDMA if they: "(1) adequately al- <br />leged a personal injury resulting from a land use decision"; "(2) ad- <br />equately alleged a causal relationship between the decision and the <br />alleged injury"; and "(3) requested relief that is substantially likely to <br />redress the alleged injury." <br />The court rejected CLC's argument that the Citizens failed to meet <br />the first part of this "traditional judicial test for standing." The court <br />said that the Citizens did not lack standing merely because they al- <br />leged similar injuries to those others have suffered or will suffer. The <br />Citizens were not complaining about the impact of the development on <br />the community in general, but claimed that the development would di- <br />rectly affect them and their families. In other words, the Citizens were <br />"alleging private, rather than public; injuries." "That others may also <br />share their concerns and be subject to the same specific, individualized <br />injuries d[id] not make the potential harms any less personal to [the <br />Citizens]." <br />Furthermore, the court found that the Citizens' allegations that the <br />(. j. amended development would result in dangerous increases of pollution <br />in water they use was "an allegation of a direct and personal impact... <br />sufficient to create the personal stake that [judicial] standing require- <br />ments demand." The court concluded that the Citizens had standing <br />© 2010 Thomson Reuters 5 <br />47 <br />