By Miki Mullor

The Golden Eagle development in Hideout now officially has more lawsuits pending than built homes.

The 300+ development of custom homesites sold about 100 lots when conflict between the developer, Mustang Development LLC and the Town of Hideout, broke in April 2021.

Home built but can’t move in

John Blamer, a private homeowner in the Golden Eagle development, has filed an administrative appeal over the Town’s refusal to issue him a Certificate of Occupancy (“C/O”). An administrative appeal is a required first step before moving to State Court.

A C/O is necessary in order to connect a new home to the water system and to be able to move in. The Town denied Blamer’s application for a C/O over the same infrastructure issues currently being litigated by Mustang in State Court. A ruling on Mustang’s motion for Temporary Restriction Order against the Town is expected on April 24.

The Comment obtained a copy of the denial letter in which the Town additionally claims the sewer system installed in Golden Eagle is incomplete.

Sewer system in question

The letter claims the sewer system violates Utah’s administrative code R317-3-2 because “[t]he design that was built and constructed, shows decencies regarding uniform slope between manholes, no vertical curves between manholes, horizontal curves between manholes, Manhole spacing, and curvature of sewer alignment, all which are present in the currently constructed system”

• John Blamer Certificate of Occupancy Denial letter

In Blamer’s administrative appeal letter, his attorney, Marlon Bates, said the Town was using the wrong standards to evaluate the sewer system in Golden Eagle: “Hideout appears to be using the Utah standard code which is based upon urban sewer system. The town does not seem to be aware that a mountainous sewer system is a very different system with a different set of codes and standards.”

Blamer’s appeal lists Brad Gilson, of Gilson Engineering, as an expert witness.

Gilson, who is a licensed professional engineer, with over 20 years experience designing sewer system on steep slopes, wrote in a letter that “the sewer system has been designed, based on the Sanitary Sewer System Design Standards, Construction Specifications, and Standard Drawings, revised July 2014 for the Town of Hideout” – supporting Bates’ argument that the Town is ignoring its own standard when evaluating Golden Eagle’s built sewer system.

Taken hostage for a $100 Million lawsuit

Bates further accuses the Town of dragging Blamer into an unrelated dispute with Mustang: “Mr. Blamer has been held hostage in the bitter fight that is going on between Hideout and the developer. Although Mr. Blamer has nothing to do with the dispute, he is caught in the middle because Hideout is linking his water meter and certificate of occupancy to the developer’s completion of all its duties under the master development agreement.”

The dispute Bates is referring to is a pending lawsuit between Mustang and the Town, Phil Rubin, the current Mayor in his personal capacity and Thomas Eddington, the Town’s planner, in his personal capacity. The significance of “personal capacity” is that should Mustang’s allegation against the two proven true, they can be held liable personally and have to pay damages the court awards Mustang.

In its complaint Mustang is asking for a “judgment against Eddington, Integrated Planning & Design and Mr. Rubin for damages in an amount to be proven at trial, but in no event less than $100,000,000;”

• Mustang’s Second Amended Complaint in Utah State Court

In its complaint, filed in May 2021, Mustang accused Rubin and Eddington of derailing the $9.5 million sale of Mustang’s Outlaw private golf course to Community Preservation Association (CPA), the HOA of Mustang’s developments in Hideout.

Mustang alleges that Eddington told a citizen of “several critically important facts, including “Golf Course Land Unlikely to Every Become Residential Units.” due to Mustang’s exhaustions of its available residential units. The citizen published Eddington statement to a large group of residents.

(correction: the citizen told the Comment the Comment the stricken-through sentence is inaccurate)

Mustang denied it exhausted its available units, an assertion the Town agreed with – in writing.

Mustang said in the lawsuit that once Rubin seen Eddington’s message spread in public, he sent Eddington an email in which “Rubin acknowledges that he was part of a plan to disseminate false information regarding the sale of the golf course Property… but chastised Mr. Eddington for connecting his name to the scheme and directed Mr. Eddington to lie to the citizen regarding the “source” of the information”.

Rubin denied Mustang’s allegations in court filings. The lawsuit is pending in State Court.

A smoking gun?

After the $100 million lawsuit was filed, private owners in Golden Eagle who applied for building permits, were getting denied by the Town over alleged incomplete infrastructure Mustang is installing in the development.

Mustang then has sued the Town over these denials, alleging the decision were illegal. At the heart of the lawsuit is a “smoking gun” email from Timm Dixon, the Town’s engineer, apparently admitting the permit denials are due to the litigation with Mustang (at that time, there was only one pending litigation pending, the $100 million Golf Course lawsuit)

The Town attempted to explain away this email by saying that Dixon did not understand what “litigation” meant and was referring to a different proceedings – an argument that failed to convince the judge in the case.

The judge will rule on the denial issues on April 24, 2023.

Homeowner launches his own lawsuit

Blamer applied for his building permit in May 2021 and broke ground on August 2021. He is the first (and only) private land owner in Golden Eagle who was able to start construction. His new home was complete on December 2022, at which time he applied for C/O but was denied “Per Timm Dixon” (the Town’s engineer). Later on the Town provided more details, Balmer says, which mirror the infrastructure issues other land owners were getting denied building permits over, but added the sewer as yet another reason for the denial.

“The town and us agreed to meet for a settlement meeting on April 5th but the town cancelled night before” – added Blamer who said the Town’s actions cause him damages of over $10,000 a month since he’s paying for two homes – the one he completed and can’t move into and the one he and his family currently live at – “Emotionally this affects all aspects of our life”

The hearing in Blamer’s case will be held on April 21, 2023 at 10:00 am.

It will be open to the public:

In-person: 10860 N. Hideout Trail, Hideout, Utah, 84036
Via Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/4356594739

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