They were talked out of it.

Cedar Fort Town Council members arrived at a special meeting Thursday night for what had been called a 15-minute discussion and vote on a building moratorium, but closed the meeting an hour and a half later having been talked out of the moratorium by an unlikely person -- the woman who was mayor here until she was defeated by a surprise write-in vote in November.

Meeting in a frigid room in the town's fire station, Mayor Howard Anderson started the meeting by saying the choice was not whether to approve a moratorium, but whether to include all or part of the town. All but one of the council donned coats as a tiny heater labored away, but the heater was soon extinguished after residents complained they couldn't hear the council's discussion.

Almost immediately, former mayor Jeanine Cook politely but doggedly challenged council members, saying that because a moratorium can only be called once before an automatic waiting period kicks in, the city should not waste the moratorium.

The city is already protected from unwanted subdivisions and building projects because there is no water available for new homes and because the city has an ordinance stating only five homes can be built a year, she said.

One by one, a majority of council members came to agree with her. In the end, only Anderson and Councilwoman Machelle Clegg voted in favor of the moratorium, defeated by the remaining three members.

About three years ago the town annexed 13,000 acres, quadrupling the town's size. There always has been some question about how that land is now zoned, Anderson said. The town's attorney, investigating the matter at the town's request, recently said the original annexation agreement zones the property in two different ways, neither of which is legal according to city ordinances.

"We can't have a map saying one thing and a zone saying another," Anderson told council members. "That is illegal."

The city should place a moratorium on building new homes until the city's ordinances can be updated and reviewed, he said. He noted that the town is working to make water available to accommodate those who want to build homes.

"A moratorium can only last six months, and right now there is no way anyone can build anyway, so it is kind of premature," Cook said. "Once you have water available, then you will have subdivisions coming."

The council should work on improving its ordinances now to regulate and control future growth and save the moratorium in case water becomes available, but the city still has not had time to finish new ordinances, she said.

Several council members and the mayor said their greatest fear is that a "high-powered lawyer" would find a loophole in the town's ordinances that would force the city to consider a subdivision or slew of single homes before ordinances could be rewritten.

Should the town hear that a subdivision is about to be proposed, council members could implement the moratorium, Cook said.

"You only have to give 24 hours notice to put that in," she said.

"But if they are in one minute before, we can't just say we are changing our minds because we realize we made a mistake," said Councilman Chris Murphy.

About an hour into the meeting, the town planning and zoning chairman of three months, Bart Berry, arrived promising to work as quickly as possible to rewrite the town ordinances. He advised council members to forego the moratorium, saving it for later if necessary.

The 2002 annexation was supposed to be kept in a zone equivalent to what it had been zoned by the county before annexation, he said.

When council members asked for proof, Cook said it was in minutes of the council meeting.

"I don't believe we will ever find those minutes," said Councilman Nyle Jacobsen, only to be hushed by other council members, several of whom said "Don't say that."

The town must be careful as it crafts ordinances to manage growth "because this is going to affect us for the rest of our lives," Berry said.

"What scares me is that in six months, we won't be any further along," said Anderson, to which Berry seemed to grow angry.

"Howard, don't pin me down like that," he said in an irritated voice. "I gave you my word on it."

"Then in 30 days we'll have zoning ordinances," Anderson said calmly.

While the town must "press forward" to rewrite their ordinances, "just how robust that effort is going to be depends on people's schedules," said Berry.

"I'll tell you something that is concerning me," Anderson said. "How fast you move tells me how fast I can put water in the tank (to allow for new homes). That is an encrypted message, and you know what I'm trying to say."

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D1.