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ST. GEORGE — A judge ruled in favor of the city of Ivins and a developer planning a mixed residential/commercial resort with short-term rentals in a lawsuit brought on by a group of Ivins residents.
At the 5th District Courthouse in St. George on Tuesday afternoon, Judge Keith Barnes said the city did not break the law when it broke normal city council procedure when, after a vote to approve the rezoning of the developer's land failed, the motion to approve it was repeated in the same meeting, and it passed.
Last Sept. 1, the Ivins City Council approved a rezoning of the "SITLA 120" land owned by the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration. The land is being developed by Rize Capital from low-density residential properties to a mix of residential, commercial and resort zones to be called "The Retreat."
In a public hearing before the vote, 12 of 13 residents spoke out against the proposal saying its inclusion of short-term rentals was bad for the city. Since then, residents have formed a group, Defenders of Greater Ivins, to oppose the rezoning. And they filed a lawsuit in November to have the rezoning overturned.
