October 14, 2025
Dear Fellow Leeds Resident,
My name is Wayne Peterson and I am one of the two candidates for Leeds Mayor. First and foremost, I want to encourage you to vote in this year’s election. It is important that the outcome of this November’s election reflects the wishes of the entire Town.
I have been asked a lot about my lack of yard signs. I once read an article that stated “yard signs don’t vote” and I agree with that. Personally, I have three reasons for not having yard signs. First, no matter how spectacularly well-designed they might be, they are no match for the natural beauty by which we are fortunate to be surrounded. Second, many statistically neutral studies do not show them having a meaningful effect on an election’s outcome, and the results of the Leeds primary this August were consistent with that – the candidates with the earliest and/or most yard signs did not receive the most votes. Finally, and most importantly, they can be divisive, with homeowners sometimes not feeling comfortable saying “no” to the requested placement of a sign in their yard, and passersby sometimes forming negative feelings toward their neighbor when seeing a sign supporting a particular candidate on that neighbor’s property. Yard signs are a form of free speech, however, and I strongly support the First Amendment and, therefore, other candidates’ rights to utilize them. I have decided to send you a letter instead that offers my position on some of the important issues facing our community.
I had the privilege of serving as Leeds Mayor from 2014-2021. I did not run for reelection as Leeds Mayor in 2021 and voters should know why. From 2014-2017 my wife had spent meaningful time with her widowed father in New Jersey who had been diagnosed with liver cancer. In 2017 my father-in-law passed on, as did my 91-year old father. My mother was losing mobility, having suffered a compound fracture of her right ankle, and decided to move from Long Island, New York to an independent living facility in Washington County, Utah. After moving out to Utah, my mother suffered a matching compound fracture of her left ankle and ended up needing to move into a nearby assisted living facility. When the filing time for candidates arrived in 2021, it was clear that my 91-year old mother was entering the final stages of her life. My wife spoke to me about how important it was for her to be there for her father as liver cancer took its toll. While my wife was willing to be there for my mom, she correctly told me how important it would be for me to be there for my mom, and as it turned out, she was right. My mom made it to 93 and a half before passing, and I am glad to have been there for my mom until her passing in February 2023.
The General Plan, developed with resident input required by State Code, exists as a guide for how the Town would like to move forward (see https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title10/Chapter9A/C10-9a-P4_1800010118000101.pdf ). During my second four-year term as Mayor, work began, with grant funding, on updating the Town’s General Plan. That work was completed, and a revised General Plan was approved by the new Mayor and Town Council in 2022. I am supportive of that General Plan, particularly with its stated strategy to “require new residential development to be compatible and consistent with the town’s historic land use patterns and/or adjacent developed lot sizes.” Unfortunately the General Plan is not a binding document, and on multiple occasions the Planning Commission and Town Council have chosen to deviate from it. As a result, two new zoning districts have been approved by the Town Council, and a third new zoning district has been recommended by the Planning Commission for approval by the Town Council, that are not consistent with the stated strategy to “require new residential development to be compatible and consistent with the town’s historic land use patterns and/or adjacent developed lot sizes.”
Of particular concern is the new Mixed Use Ordinance, which allows a developer to build both residential and commercial properties within the Mixed Use Zone. Residential units have a maximum average density over the entire parcel acreage of 4.25 units per acre, with up to 150,000 square feet of commercial space being permitted. The Town of Leeds has a long-standing multi-family residential district, designated as R-M-7 in Chapter 15 of the current Leeds Land Use Ordinance, which requires a lot with a minimum of 36,000 square feet and a conditional use permit to construct a four-family dwelling. The Mixed Use Ordinance recommended by the Planning Commission on October 1, 2025, and approved by the Town Council on October 8, 2025, requires a lot with a minimum of 16,000 square feet and no conditional use permit to construct a four-family dwelling, reducing the minimum lot size by 55.5%, clearly not consistent with the Town’s historic land use patterns.
A representative from the developer who was granted Mixed Use zoning by the Leeds Town Council on October 8, 2025, indicated to me after the meeting that he understood a concern that I raised that “mixed use” in the required development plan could turn into all higher density residential housing being built and the area designated for commercial in the “mixed use” not being developed at all. This situation brings to mind a recent General Plan amendment request in Toquerville for commercially-zoned land near the Sapp Brothers site by I-15 Exit 27. At Toquerville’s June 12, 2025 meeting, as reported in the Toquerville Sentinel, a developer:
complained that hotels, convenience stores, and other “retail” elements of the planned development are proving difficult to entice to the area due to the lack of “rooftops” within a few miles of the proposed commercial zone. He said that the commercial interests do not consider the easy access and visibility from I-15 to be enough incentive to build here – they want to see another 350+ residential homes (“rooftops”) added.
(see https://www.toquervillesentinel.com/posts2/council-4?rq=sapp)
As this was not within a zone that permitted both residential and commercial development, the Toquerville City Council was able to, and did deny the request to amend the Toquerville General Plan to permit high-density residential development on this previously commercially-zoned land. I believe this highlights the clarity and benefit of separately zoning residential land and commercial land, instead of combining them in mixed use.
This Toquerville example also highlights the benefits of following the General Plan, or else amending it, not ignoring it, if a municipality is going to deviate from the currently approved General Plan. In the Spring of this year the Planning Commission was working up a recommendation on the Mixed Use Ordinance. I asked Alan Roberts if he thought it made sense to amend the General Plan if Leeds was going to bring back Mixed Use. He responded that he recalled Mixed Use being in the current General Plan. The primary reference actually in the General Plan is that “[a] mixed-use zone was part of the zoning ordinance, but it was repealed by the town council in 2016.” The one and only parcel that had been zoned mixed-use at the time of repeal remained zoned mixed-use and was listed as such and shown on the map with the appropriate mixed-use legend. These references would not lead me to conclude that creating a new mixed-use zone was consistent with the Leeds General Plan, which may be found in its entirety at: https://leeds.utah.gov/other/general-plan/ .
A central theme of some Leeds candidates this year, including Alan Roberts, has been “a seat at the table.” It is used in connection with desiring any land being developed near Leeds to be annexed into Leeds so that at least some “benefits” may be gained in addition to “all of the downside,” such as increased traffic on Main Street coming to, and away from, the new development. I am in favor of considering such annexations, but I do not share the belief of some that such “seats at the table” will always “benefit” Leeds. Our fellow Washington County, Utah residents in Ivins have a cautionary experience that is relevant to us. In 2020 the City Council of Ivins approved the Black Desert Resort development by a 5-0 vote. On August 14, 2025 the City Council of Ivins held a Truth-In-Taxation Public Hearing on an over 33% increase in the Municipal Property Tax Rate for all Ivins residents. During that hearing there was focus on City of Ivins tax revenue from the Black Desert Resort, which has hosted both LPGA and PGA events on its golf course. In an August 16, 2025 article in The Salt Lake Tribune by reporter Mark Eddington (see https://www.sltrib.com/news/2025/08/16/ivins-city-council-ok-34-tax-hike/ ), the following appeared:
[Ivins Finance Director] Visser said the tax revenue the city has collected from Black Desert thus far [have] for the current fiscal year have fallen far short of expectations.
“We were hoping to get $300,000 worth of transient room tax, but [we’re] going to [collect] close to $120,000,” Visser said. “So my expectations were off … I was too bullish.”
[Ivins Mayor] Hart and others estimate Black Desert revenues might not do much for municipal coffers until it is more fully built out, about 2029 or 2030. Even then, the mayor remarked, it would be a mistake to assume revenues from the resort would negate the need for additional tax revenues.
At the end of that Truth-In-Taxation Public Hearing the City Council of Ivins approved the over 33% increase in the Municipal Property Tax Rate for all residents by a 4-1 vote.
At the Town of Leeds Meet the Candidates night on October 9, 2025, a question was asked about Town staffing levels. In June of 2009 the Town of Leeds hired a Town Manager in anticipation of development activity that was believed likely to occur. That development activity did not materialize, nor did the projected revenues associated with it. Eleven months later the Town of Leeds could not afford to continue employing a Town Manager and the Town Manager who had been hired went to work for one of the developers owning land in Leeds. Based on decisions that the Leeds Town Council has made over the past four years, I do expect there will be increased development activity during the next Mayor’s four-year term. As a retiree, I am available and prepared to work the longer and harder hours that I expect will be required, expanding our Town staff only when it is clear that it is needed, and that the revenue is there to support it on an ongoing basis. As Leeds learned in 2009/2010 and Ivins learned in 2025, you cannot spend projected revenue when it does not become actual revenue.
While I was Mayor in 2019, Leeds celebrated its Sesquicentennial (150-year anniversary) in May. The event was a success because of the hundreds of hours volunteers spent planning and putting on that event, and I recall the lengthy list of “thank yous” I shared in the 2019 Third Quarter Town Newsletter. During the Sesquicentennial there were stories told of many events in Leeds history that were only possible because of volunteerism. One of the earliest was the separating into two parts the no longer being used one-room school house by the Wells Fargo Express building in Silver Reef, rolling it on logs, and reassembling it at its present location on Main Street, where it served over the years, among other things, as a two-room school house for the Town’s K-8 students, before ultimately becoming our current Town Hall. Another major volunteerism effort resulted in the system of irrigation ditches bringing needed water down from Pine Valley Mountain to the Town of Leeds’s residents. For the past few decades, children of Leeds have enjoyed the playground equipment that was purchased new at an end-of-season discount and installed by a group of volunteers from the Town. While volunteerism has come through for Leeds over its 156-year history, there are some who question whether it will continue to do so in the future, but I am not one of them. We cannot rely on volunteerism to provide essential services, but I believe the people of Leeds with whom I have worked, enjoy volunteering on behalf of their Town and will continue to do so.
Leeds has been and continues to be in an area designated as a wildland-urban interface with a high to very high risk of wildfire according to the Utah Department of Natural Resources. As the National Fire Protection Association states on its website (https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/wildfire/firewise-usa ), “The Firewise USA® program provides simple, effective steps to help communities reduce the risk of destruction from wildfire. Learn how to “Band Together” before wildfire disasters occur.” Some insurance companies have decided to stop doing business in the entire State of Utah, and as a result some residents of Leeds have had to find homeowner’s insurance from another insurer. Other residents have received aerial photographs of their property with areas highlighted that need to be cleared of desert combustibles, in order for their homeowner’s insurance to be renewed with their current carrier. Ultimately, most, if not all, Leeds residents have seen meaningful increases in their rates for homeowner’s insurance. Leeds is part of the Hurricane Valley Fire Special Service District (“HVF”). Upon request HVF will send a firefighter to evaluate your property for how “firewise” it is. As Mayor, I would schedule periodic presentations from HVF open to the entire community. I also encourage, whether I am elected or not, that you set up a “firewise” evaluation from HVF of your property. The non-emergency phone number for HVF is (435)635-9562. The cost of making the Town areas completely “firewise” would most likely exceed the currently available funds for such work. I believe in the volunteerism that has seen Leeds through the past 156 years and would look to organize a volunteer effort to make Leeds the most firewise community in Washington County. I would also ask volunteers to consider assisting those residents with age or other physical limitations, who request help in getting their private property firewise.
Community events are opportunities to get together with our neighbors. In addition to continuing the traditional events tied to dates on the calendar, I propose having the Town sponsor a monthly dinner at the Peach Pit Pavillion from March through October, where the Town has a hot charcoal fire ready for cooking at the appointed hour, and residents are asked to bring their entrée to grill for themselves and either a side dish or dessert to share with others. It is hard to build and sustain community without opportunities to get together and interact as a community.
Throughout this letter I have tried to provide links to information on which my statements are based. I welcome fact-based discussions of all issues. If you or someone you speak with thinks there is any inaccuracy, please be sure to contact me via email (Wayne.D.Peterson@infowest.com) or phone, (435)767-7051.
In closing, I would like to address a statement that was made by Alan Roberts at the October 9, 2025 Meet the Candidates Night regarding slavery. It was basically a repeat of the statement he made in a letter to the St. George News following his resignation as Leeds Mayor that was included in an article from January 12, 2013:
I ran for election to serve the citizens of Leeds and to help protect the Constitutional and individual rights of the citizens. Leeds is unable and unwilling to provide the proper staff to conduct the daily operations required by a municipality. This requires more time and resources from Leeds elected and appointed officials. I did not run for office to be subject to slavery. (see https://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/leeds-mayor-clarifies-reasons-for-resignation/article_c1bef73a-18a6-556b-9523-4f4881b364d3.html )
As a retiree, I served eight years as Leeds Mayor, putting in the necessary hours, given the staffing levels we could afford as a Town, to make sure the job got done as properly as possible. I made a few mistakes and encountered mistakes of predecessors along the way, but I tried to learn from them. I estimate that I put in well over 10,000 hours over the eight years and never once did I consider it slavery. Rather, I considered it a very large volunteer opportunity that I was given the privilege, by voters, to undertake. I expect the next four years will likely require even more work per week as Mayor, but I feel up to the task, am ready to dedicate the necessary hours, and look forward to the opportunity if the voters of Leeds grant me their necessary support. I appreciate you considering giving me your support.
Your ballot must be received by Washington County, not just postmarked, by Tuesday, November 4, 2025. There are ballot drop boxes located throughout Washington County that avoid the risk of a late arrival due to virtually all of our sent mail being routed through Las Vegas. Please vote.
Sincerely,
Wayne Peterson
Wayne Peterson For Leeds Mayor 