A judge in Utah’s 3rd District Court ruled Wednesday that the state’s takeover of a large chunk of land in Salt Lake City’s west side did not run afoul of the state constitution as Salt Lake City had argued.
The decision leaves the Utah Inland Port Authority Board with power over land and tax decisions on some 19,000 acres and is a major blow to opponents of the inland port project, a distribution hub environmentalists worry will increase emissions and negatively impact the state’s already poor air quality.
“Whether wise or unwise, the Utah Inland Port Authority Act is sufficiently infused with a state purpose that it does not run afoul of the 'Ripper Clause’ in the Utah Constitution, which prohibits the Legislature from delegating purely municipal authority to ‘special commissions,’” Judge James Blanch wrote in a 52-page opinion.