SALT LAKE CITY — And now, we wait.
The Utah Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments in the now yearslong legal war between the state of Utah and its own capital city over whether the Utah Legislature's creation of the Utah Inland Port Authority in northwest Salt Lake City violated the Utah Constitution.
It could be weeks, months or even years before the five justices on Utah's highest court reach a decision — a decision that will have major implications not just for the future of the Utah Inland Port, a controversial project meant to maximize Utah's position in the global economy, and not just for the future of what the state designated as the port authority's jurisdiction, about 16,000 acres in Salt Lake City, which makes up about 1⁄3 of the city's last remaining developable lands.