The former councilwoman who was appointed to represent Downtown in 2019 and later lost her bid for a full term applied to fill a vacancy created after Eva Lopez Chavez was removed for buying a primary home outside the district.
Yet county records show Ana Valdemoros and her husband bought a home in Draper earlier this year. The deed showed the home is a primary residence, it required the couple to move in within 60 days, and it required them to establish it as their primary residence for at least a year.
She said she hasn’t yet moved into the house she bought in February, setting up a test of whether the city believes she’s eligible to serve on the council, and whether the remaining six members of the City Council choose her despite her intention to leave the city after the term ends.
Lopez Chavez, who won the election for the seat in November 2023, was removed from the position effective December 2025, after the city discovered she bought a primary home outside the district.
Lopez Chavez has said she intends to fight her removal from office.
In a letter notifying Lopez Chavez of her removal, Salt Lake City Recorder Keith Reynolds wrote that the deed recorded against her home showed that she was required to establish the home as her primary residence within 60 days of recording.
The home that Valdemoros bought includes nearly an identical provision, with two exceptions: If the lender agreed to waive the occupancy requirement, or if there are extenuating circumstances beyond her control.
Valdemoros’ son is also enrolled in a kindergarten in Draper beginning in the fall, her church membership records were transferred to Draper, and the Draper home is receiving the primary residential property tax exemption from Salt Lake County.
The city attorney and city recorder didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, and Valdemoros told Building Salt Lake she is waiting on the recorder’s office to determine whether she is eligible to be appointed to the seat. She applied to fill the role on Thursday.
The application that candidates fill out requires them to attest that they have lived in the district for 12 consecutive months before being appointed to the seat. They must then remain a resident of the district for the remainder of the term.
The issue, Valdemoros acknowledged in a letter dated May 20 and addressed to the council, is largely about optics.
Valdemoros letter
When asked about the home purchase in Draper, Valdemoros provided a letter addressed to the remaining members of the City Council and sent to the offices of the mayor, city recorder and city attorney.
The letter acknowledges that Valdemoros bought the Draper house, but it suggests that she hasn’t actually established residency in the suburban home.
Valdemoros said that she has lived full-time within a Downtown condo building since 2008, and that she hasn’t moved out of the condo.
“I have maintained that condominium as my unbroken residence throughout my prior service on this Council, and there has been no period during this 18-year span in which my residence was elsewhere,” she wrote.
She also said that given her work as co-founder of Square Kitchen, she intended to stay in the Downtown condo several days each week even after moving into the Draper home.
The school enrollment, church transfer and property tax discount are forward-looking statements that indicate an upcoming move but which haven’t disqualified Valdemoros from filling the vacant seat, she wrote.
“The concern this letter raises is not, in my view, primarily a legal one,” she wrote. “The concern is appearance, and the position the Council would be placed in by an appointment that will be examined publicly regardless of how clearly the legal answer falls.”
She also committed to maintaining her Downtown condo as her primary residence for the remainder of the term.
In her letter, Valdemoros also said she has “no intention of running for the seat when it is up for election” in 2027.
“I am stepping in to fix a problem not of my making,” she said in the letter. “Whether or not I am ultimately appointed, my engagement with the downtown community and with District 4 will continue in the same way it has in the period since my prior service on the Council concluded; the civic work described above is work I expect to be doing regardless of the Council’s decision on this appointment.”
Valdemoros was appointed to the seat in January 2019 after former councilman Derek Kitchen won election to the Utah Senate and vacated his seat on council.
Other candidates
As a candidate who has already served in the role, Valdemoros is likely the most qualified candidate among a competitive field to have applied so far.
Among others who have applied to fill the seat are Brenda Case Scheer, a former Planning Commissioner and retired dean of the College of Architecture + Planning at the University of Utah.
Others include Javier Chavez Jr., an attorney who also serves on a variety of nonprofit boards and other entities, including the Utah System of Higher Education.
The full list of applicants can be found on the city’s website. Monday is the deadline for candidates to apply.
The City Council is approaching the heat of budgeting season, when the council’s seven members spend the summer poring over a $499 million proposed budget.
This year’s proposed budget includes a 12.5 percent property tax increase, as well as increases to various fees that total about $32.50 per month above what Salt Lakers currently pay.
The city is also undergoing a period where its focus — and that of the Legislature and investors — remains fixed on the future of western Downtown near the Delta Center.
Whoever is appointed to the seat will also act as a key swing vote on the city’s effort to reform is single-family housing zones, as District 4 members represent the most dense areas in the city and are generally seen as more pro-density.
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