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Park City • Summit County officials say a Utah County lawmaker is threatening to usurp local zoning authority by legislation if a Davis County-based attorney isn't allowed to build a movie studio just east of Park City.
But state Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Eagle Mountain, contends he's merely fighting for personal property rights and high-paying jobs.
Since 2004, Greg Ericksen has sought approval from Park City or Summit County to locate the proposed 320,000-square-foot complex on 30 acres near the intersection of State Road 248 and U.S. Highway 40, known as Quinn's Junction. He even filed a lawsuit that year, which is still pending, accusing Summit County of refusing to address his proposal.
Both Park City and Summit County say the proposal is much too large for the site.
Ericksen said the facility would be owned and operated by Raleigh Studios, the largest independent studio company in the country, according to Raleigh's website. He recently appealed to Madsen to introduce legislation that would make the studio development possible with or without Summit County's approval.
Ericksen has contributed a total of $3,000 to Madsen's campaign fund, according to state records.
The 30 acres, owned by an entity called Quinn's Junction Partnership, is outside Park City limits but within the municipality's annexation boundary, meaning it could be annexed and fall under city zoning regulations.
Park City Manager Tom Bakaly said that on numerous occasions he talked about the movie studio with Ericksen and now-convicted arms dealer Ralph Merrill. In those meetings, Merrill represented himself as the property owner and Ericksen represented himself as Merrill's attorney, Bakaly said.
In December 2010, Merrill was convicted in Florida on 21 counts of fraud against the United States. According to the Office of the U.S. Attorney, Merrill was part of a conspiracy to purchase Chinese-made munitions and sell them illegally to Afghan armed forces.
Bakaly says it's unclear whether Merrill still has an interest in the land.
"Sen. Madsen looks to be proposing a bill that would be private/public partnership," Bakaly said. "And the state should know whether it's getting in bed with a convicted felon."
Erickson maintains that Merrill no longer owns the land and that Summit County and Park City officials are bringing up his conviction as a "red herring" to scuttle the deal.
Merrill is still named as a plaintiff in litigation against Summit County regarding the Quinn's Junction Partnership parcel. Ericksen said that will be amended.
Presently, the land is zoned for one unit per 20 acres. But Summit County signaled recently that it would be willing to rezone the property to allow 88,000 square feet of commercial development.
Summit County Manager Bob Jasper and other Summit County officials recently met with Madsen on Capitol Hill. But Jasper said he didn't know how such legislation would work. Madsen has filed a placeholder bill, SB231, but as yet it has nothing in it.
"Sen. Madsen didn't say, 'I'll shove it down your throat,' " Jasper said. "But he said he would put it in a bill. He said if we didn't do it, he would do it for us."
Madsen defended his position Friday as one that promotes economic development as well as responsible local government.
"The most important thing to me is to bring 500 well-paying, very green jobs into this state with a movie studio," he said.