OPINION — The Hurricane City Council granted a sweeping land use change to developer James N. Thomas at last week’s City Council meeting.

Read more: Hurricane City Council opens door for controversial development

What most people don’t know is that they did so with the following evidence:

• Mr. Thomas is not the owner of record for his residence.  
• Mr. Thomas has a federal tax lien in the amount of $74,366 against him.
• Mr. Thomas has an unpaid judgment in the amount of $26,671 against him in Utah.
• Mr. Thomas has opened and closed two other LLCs since 2015.  
• This is all public information and was submitted to the city of Hurricane with verification prior to their vote.  

Mr. Thomas presented his project to Rotary of which I was a proud member for years. Rotary has four guiding principles: 1 – Is it the Truth, 2 – Is it fair to all concerned, 3 – Will it build good will and better friendships, 4 – Will it be beneficial to all concerned. Mr. Thomas certainly does not appear to adhere to those principals and it doesn’t appear the Hurricane City Council does either.

The City Council voted to allow the land change Mr. Thomas desires in spite of:

• Residents of Hurricane packing the Fine Arts building three times.
• Receiving over 1,100 petitions in opposition to this project.
• An incomplete application by Mr. Thomas for the proposed land change.
• The general plan map delineating this parcel of land to be residential only.
• Evidence presented regarding the lack of financial integrity of the developer.
• The recommendation of the Planning Commission to deny the land change application.

The City Council decided they know better than their constituents and voted in favor of Mr. Thomas and his Wild West atrocity.

These same Council members sat in our Sky Mountain clubhouse prior to being elected when we hosted “meet the candidate” meetings and avowed they wanted to be on the council so they could represent us and protect our interests. Instead what they have done is alienate, demean, ignore and belittle our opinions.

So, come on out to Hurricane if you are broke, owe the federal government money, renege on your debts, have a pipe dream that the surrounding neighbors don’t want, and you can just waltz your way on in folks … come one, come all.

There are many of us who love Hurricane and are proud to call this our home. If you feel this way and are willing to run for the next City Council election, give Sky Mountain a call, we would love to support candidates who truly care about our beloved area as well.

For our sitting council members, you can ignore our petitions but not our votes. We will not forget.

Submitted by PENNY R. JAMES-GARCIA, Hurricane, Utah.

Letters to the Editor are not the product of St. George News, its editors, staff or news contributors. The matters stated and opinions given are the responsibility of the person submitting them. They do not reflect the product or opinion of St. George News and are given only light edit for technical style and formatting.

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Letters to the Editor are not the product of St. George News, its editors, staff or news contributors. The matters stated and opinions given are the responsibility of the person submitting them. They do not reflect the product or opinion of St. George News and are given only light edit for technical style and formatting.