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Pick N County pauses Star Mesa site decision, asks homeowners and applicant to resolve covenant dispute before further review
Summary
After hearing appeals, commissioners remanded the Star Sky Holdings activity-envelope/site-plan matter and adopted language pausing further county processing while homeownersassociation covenant litigation proceeds; the board amended the resolution to cite the county code provision that makes pending litigation a bar to processing.
The Pick N County Board of County Commissioners on April 9 took action on appeals of a hearing officers approval of an activity envelope and site plan for a parcel at 1200 Star Mesa Road (Star Sky Holdings LLC). After hearing lawyers for the parties and receiving public comment, the board adopted a resolution that remands the hearing officers determination and pauses further county processing while litigation over restrictive covenants is pending.
At issue before the board were two intertwined questions: (1) whether the hearing officer had properly applied Pick N Countys land-use standards in approving the activity envelope and (2) whether a dispute among Star Mesa homeowners about the existence and location of a recorded activity-envelope designation (a covenant subject) must be resolved in court before the county proceeds. The boards action flags the second issue as a threshold legal dispute and directs the matter not to be further processed by county staff or the hearing officer while litigation concerning the HOA covenants is pending.
County legal staff advised the board that Pick N County Land Use Code section 2-20-10(d) treats litigation by owners or other parties with a legal interest in an application as a bar to further county processing in some circumstances, and the resolution the board approved was amended to cite that code provision explicitly. After discussion, the board voted 4-1 in favor of the remand-and-pause resolution.
The resolution remands the matter back to the hearing officer to consider the portions of the land-use code the board found were not fully addressed in the original approval, but does not require the hearing officer to act immediately; county staff will await final resolution of the covenant litigation or a settlement among the involved property owners before returning the matter to the county workflow.
What this means - The hearing officers approval is not being implemented while the covenant litigation is pending; the county has effectively paused the application process pending final, non-appealable resolution of the HOA dispute. - The board directed staff to include an explicit code citation in the final resolution to preserve the countys legal position (Pick N County Land Use Code 2-20-10(d)).
Quotes (from the transcript) "There are threshold contractual issues among the parties in the covenants ... those are threshold because whatever the land use decision may be, that issue will still have to be resolved," said attorney Mike Rawlin, who represents a Star Mesa owner.
"If the court doesn't decide all that, then the queue starts back up and the hearing officer revisits the section that we think he overlooked," County staff said during discussion.
Ending The county resolution places the application on administrative hold while the private covenant dispute is litigated or settled. The applicant and homeowners may pursue court resolution; the county will resume administrative review once that litigation is final or the parties reach an agreement that resolves the disputed covenant issue.
