The Election Day vote by Holladay residents to reject zoning for a high-density development at the old Cottonwood Mall site was legally valid, the Utah Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
In a much-awaited decision, the five-member high court found unanimously that the City Council acted in a lawmaking fashion in May when it approved a development master plan for the $560 million project known as Holladay Quarter.
Enacting that "broad zoning ordinance,” justices ruled in a 17-page decision, was a legislative act, not an administrative one as the city and developers had argued — leaving the city’s approval open to challenge at the polls through a grass-roots referendum.