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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Supreme Court has dropped Salt Lake City's lawsuit over the Utah Inland Port Authority, months after it originally ruled that the port authority's zoning structure doesn't violate Utah laws.
The court's decision Friday came after the city filed a motion to dismiss the case, according to the Utah Attorney General's Office. In a statement to KSL.com, Salt Lake City spokesman Andrew Wittenberg said that both the city and the state "mutually agreed" to dismiss the lawsuit in December, which the court agreed to Friday.
Utah's capital city originally filed the lawsuit in 2019, arguing that the port authority — formed the year before — violated parts of the Utah Constitution. The main claim is that it broke the Uniform Operation of Laws Clause and Ripper Clause by seizing control of land and tax revenue from Salt Lake City, West Valley City and Magna.
City officials claimed it violated the Uniform Operation of Laws Clause because all three cities were singled out by the state and treated differently than other cities. They added that the state's Ripper Clause bars delegating municipal authority to special commissions, too.
But a 3rd District Court judge sided with the Utah Inland Port Authority in January 2020. City officials appealed the decision to the Utah Supreme Court. However, the higher court ultimately affirmed the original ruling in June, nearly two-and-a-half years after the original ruling.
Then-Utah Supreme Court Justice Thomas Lee wrote that Salt Lake City "failed to establish that the zoning provisions' disparate treatment of three municipalities is not rationally related to a legitimate legislative objective."
"And the act does not delegate zoning or land-use authority to (the port authority), so its zoning and land-use provisions do not run afoul of the Ripper Clause," he added in the ruling.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, who took office after the original lawsuit was filed, blasted the decision, saying that she and members of the Salt Lake City Council were "deeply disappointed" in the Utah Supreme Court decision.
The city has since reversed its decision because of a new operating agreement between the two sides.
"Because the city and port authority are working under a new contractual relationship that addresses how the city's money will be spent to benefit our impacted communities, the parties agreed that continuing the litigation was not necessary," Wittenberg said.
The parties filed paperwork to dismiss the case on Dec. 30. The Utah Supreme Court's notice Friday added that both parties are to bear their own legal costs and fees in relation to the case, citing state code.
