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COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS -- The controversial developer behind a contentious project at the base of Big Cottonwood Canyon may seek to "disconnect" from Cottonwood Heights because he's been unable to win new zoning approval.
This comes after the developer's attorneys filed an extremely large records request with the city.
Developer Terry Diehl has been pushing for several years now to build a resort at the base of the canyon. So far, the city has yet to give the proposal the green light. Now it appears Diehl may be looking to take the project out of the city altogether.
Originally, the Tavaci project was zoned for large, single-family homes. When Diehl pushed for Cottonwood Heights approval to change the zoning to allow a high-end resort, hotel, condos, retail space and restaurants, a coalition of dozens of neighbors spoke out.
Since then, the rezone has been on hold. Now Diehl wants an answer.
"My clients are interested in, actually, the city following through with a proposal the city began almost two years ago to allow a reasonable development on that project. And that's our first choice," said Bruce Baird, attorney for Diehl and Cottonwood Estates LLC.
If Tavaci were to disconnect from Cottonwood Heights, it would again become part of unincorporated Salt Lake County.
Cottonwood Heights Mayor Kelvyn Cullimore says the city has tried to find common ground, but it's been difficult.
"I would assume that there would be some strategic reason they would like to go back into the county," he said. "I don't personally believe there's necessarily an advantage from a zoning perspective for that. The county has their zoning ordinances just like we do."
Cottonwood Heights resident Roger Kehr, a vocal opponent of the rezone, says he thinks Diehl aims to intimidate the city into okaying the rezone.
"That would be absolutely a reasonable person's conclusion," Kehr said. "It's just what happened down in Bluffdale, but in this case the city has absolutely bent over backwards for Terry, and that's not enough for him."
In the meantime, Diehl's attorneys filed an voluminous records request for all documents related to the project and 24 other items, including names of project opponents and former Salt Lake mayor Rocky Anderson, plus a copy of the city's entire public file -- a request that totals 38,000 documents.
Critics believe it may be a prelude to litigation, while Baird says they are merely trying to gather the facts.
"The GRAMA request is to get the documents related to why this petition sort of got held up for a while, why it happened and why it hasn't been acted upon," Baird said.
Diehl, his attorneys and Cottonwood Heights city officials plan to meet Thursday to further discuss the situation.
Email: jdaley@ksl.com
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