SALT LAKE CITY -- The 80 acres of land that belongs to North Salt Lake but sits inside Salt Lake City will not be annexed to Davis County, according to a 6-1 vote Tuesday night. Members of the council from Salt Lake said one of the main reasons for their refusal to let North Salt Lake use it is that they want to preserve the land as open space. North Salt Lake City Mayor Kay Briggs said he wanted to keep most of the land as open space, anyway.

"We are not opposed to open space," he said. "We are all in favor of open space. We just want it to be usable open space."

That usable open space probably would have come in the form of a park and trailheads. A small fraction of the land was to be developed.

"The part we wanted to develop is the equivalent of two square blocks in Salt Lake City and the rest we were going to leave open space," Briggs said.

He said it makes sense that North Salt Lake could be able to use the land, since Salt Lake City can't offer proper services to it or the surrounding area.

"We happen to be the only area that can properly service it with firefighters and paramedics," Briggs said. "We're the only people that can provide cleanup."

But this decision to refuse North Salt Lake the opportunity to develop or use their own land didn't come as a surprise, at least not to Mayor Briggs.

"I fully went there last night expecting them to say no," he said. "That was my anticipation."

With this vote officially out of the way, then, the mayor intends to continue working with the council in Salt Lake City and trying to get access to the land.

"I don't see the discussion being over," he said. "Until the judge's gavel bangs on the table, I'll continue to work with them to resolve the issue, and I hope we can, because I think they're all good people."

"I don't have any bones to pick with them," he said. "It seems like grown people shouldn't argue over such a small piece."

The issue may end up in court, but Mayor Briggs hopes it doesn't.

"I'd prefer to resolve it differently," he said.