The Utah Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that voters in Sevier County will get a chance to vote Nov. 4 on a measure that, if passed, would allow the county's residents to decide whether coal-fired power plants should be built in their back yard.

The court's five justices heard oral arguments Wednesday and were asked by plaintiffs in the case against Sevier Power Co. for a speedy decision, in light of the approaching general election. Just a few hours after the hearing, the justices late Wednesday afternoon stayed a ruling last month by 6th District Judge Wallace Lee, who had decided that a citizen group, the Right to Vote Committee, did not have the legal right to put the matter on the November ballot. The justices plan to issue a formal written opinion later.

"We're absolutely thrilled, you can imagine," said Jeffery Owens, attorney for the Right to Vote Committee. "We're back on the ballot."

Sevier County residents will vote on a measure called Proposition 1, which aims to give power to the people to decide the fate of any proposed power plant whose primary source of fuel is coal. If the initiative is passed, it will require amending Sevier County's zoning ordinance to say that a coal-fired power plant cannot be issued a conditional-use permit without voter approval.

Sevier Power attorney Fred Finlinson said that the company, which wants to build a 270-megawatt plant near Sigurd, may request a rehearing. "We're surprised, and we're looking at our options," he said.

The company had contended that based on Senate Bill 53, which became law last May, the ballot initiative should not go forward. The bill was co-sponsored by Sen. Brent Goodfellow, D-West Valley. It bans local initiatives for land-use or zoning measures and allows public protests only before zoning ordinances are set.

The measure was touted by Goodfellow during the 2008 Legislature as a way to protect private property rights from citizen-led initiatives. The bill's co-sponsor, Rep. Kevin Garn, R-Layton, said during the session that the bill's intent is to stop people from petitioning the administrative process of land developing.

But the Supreme Court decision allows the ballot initiative to go forward in Sevier County. In order for a Nov. 4 vote to take place, ballots that have been printed without the proposition on it will have to be redone, and absentee ballots already mailed out will somehow have to be recalled.

Owens said county officials knew the issue was coming up before the Supreme Court when they took a "risk" in deciding to print the ballots without the initiative. "I guess that's their problem," he said.

Owens said the Right to Vote Committee believes that the Utah Constitution allows voters to commence an initiative or referendum in order to legislate any law. The plaintiffs had asked the court to declare SB53 unconstitutional because they said it unduly burdens citizens' right to legislate land-use ordinances.

Lawyers for the power company had contended that the narrow focus of the initiative's apparent intent of stopping one power plant in effect makes the matter an administrative issue, not a legislative one, and should be considered out of bounds. A decision to allow people to vote on whether to allow power plants to be built will have a domino effect, according to Finlinson.

"What's to stop them from saying, 'We don't want to have that particular church in our neighborhood?"' Finlinson asked Wednesday before the order issued by Chief Justice Christine M. Durham.

Finlinson said before the ruling that a win for his side would mean counties would retain a uniform zoning process throughout the state. A loss in the form of letting people vote on the issue of coal-fired power plants would "cloud" the zoning process and, in this case, pose a "significant disruption" in the upcoming election, he added.

Sevier Power has been trying for seven years to sell Sevier County residents on the idea of the power plant near Sigurd. Some residents want the plant and the jobs it would bring, while a vocal group of opponents has tried to stop the plant, saying waste and air pollutants from the plant would harm the environment and put human health at risk. Finlinson said he hopes construction on the plant will start before 2010, but a successful ballot initiative could have a retroactive effect and stop building once it has begun.

The power company's proposal will have another stop in the Utah Supreme Court on Thursday for two separate appeals of the air permit granted by the state in 2004 to Sevier Power. The Sierra Club, which was not a party in Wednesday's hearing, alleges the new plant would not do enough to curb emissions blamed for global warming. The group wants the justices to revoke the permit.

E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com