Agenda - Planning Commission - 02/07/1995

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Z.B. i January 1995. Page 3 Waste Disposai -- Citizen's Group Wants Ballot Referendum on Plan to Annex Land f~r Waste Facility Citizen's A~areness Now v. Marakis, 873 P. 2d 1117 (Utah) 1994 East Carbori Development Corp. (ECDC) owned 2,500 acres of land next to East Carbon :, City, Utah. ECDC'wanted to build a privately owned solid waste disposal ~acility, so it proposed 'that the city annex the land and zone it for the facility..~Iowever, the city's development code did not permit privately owned facilitiesi The city council would have to amend the zoning regulations if it accepted E~DC's proposal. The city cou~ncil passed a resolution stating the main purpose for annexing ECDC's properdy was "to facilitate the establishment and operation of a solid waste disposal ~cility." The resolution expressed the city's intention to con- sider amending ihe development code so privately owned solid waste disposal facilities would .~e permitted uses, and to zone the ECDC property so it could be used this wayI It was not clear whether the resolution was Officially fi!ed and recorded, whethbr the public was properly notified of a public hearing on the resolution, whet~er any members of the public actually attended the hearing, or whether the cour~, il publicly discussed the resolution's content. The council !then passed an ordinance annexing the ECDC property and zoning the land ~ts "light industrial." However, light industrial zones only al- lowed light manufacturing and nontoxic industrial uses. Publicly operatedwaste disposal faciliti~ were permitted in general industrial zones, but not in light industrial zones. ~he council's ordinance was also faulty because it did not add the ECDC land ~ the city's official zoning map, its records did not show the ordinance was p~sted properly, and its minutes were incomplete. The council {laimed to have passed another ordinance on the same day as the annexation o~dinance. This ordinance amended the general industrial zon- ing category to ii~clude privately owned solid waste disposal facilities: How- ever, the claimec~ ordinance could not be found in the city's records. After the couhcil passed these resolutions and ordinances, it entered into an agreement with ECDC allowing ECDC to develop the facility. The council issued ECDC a o.he-year conditional use permit to build, operate, and maintain the facility. ECDC did n~ begin construction until two years later ~ by then, the per- mit had expired. ~Around that time, ECDC learned its property was zoned in- correctly for light industrial, rather than general industrial use. It notified the city council of t~is problem. The council passed new ordinances and a new zoning map to ccbrrect the mistake. It also reissued ECDC's conditional use permit. A local citizens group tried to place referenda on the ballot concerning the 'zoning change or~linances. The city denied the referenda based on its decision that the zoning c[anges were individual property zoning decisions, exempt from referenda. lo/