Salt Lake City’s District 4 is now a vacant seat, as city officials announced Council Member Eva Lopez Chavez has been kicked out her seat after determining she no longer lived within the district she represents.
The change means a key seat on the council — one that historically has voted in favor of the city’s pro-development policies — is now open for new candidates that will be chosen by the remaining six members on the council.
News of Lopez Chavez’s removal from the council came Tuesday afternoon, as City Recorder Keith Reynolds said in an email that the city attorney’s office found that Lopez Chavez “failed to maintain a primary place of residence within District Four and, further, she established a primary place of residence outside of that district.”
“… the City Recorder notified Ms. Lopez Chavez that by operation of law the seat for Salt Lake City District Four has been vacated,” Reynolds said in an email to the media.
Reynolds’ email also cites Utah state law which says, “any elected municipal office is automatically vacant if the elected official establishes a primary place of residence outside the district he or she represents.”
Largely a pro-development during her time on the city council, Lopez Chavez has also held different jobs within the real estate industry. For part of 2025, she appeared publicly as chief of staff for Lotus Company, a development company and a Building Salt Lake advertiser. Her latest conflict of interest statement says she works for Polaris Modular, a company that was registered with the state in March that is affiliated with Sentry Financial, a local development company. Her congressional campaign website says Lopez Chavez worked as, “a Mayor’s Office Liaison, Paralegal, and now as a project manager solving the housing crisis for a modular housing firm,”
In a Tuesday memo addressed to Lopez Chavez and released by the city, Reynolds outlined the timeline of the city’s investigation into her residency. City officials were first notified on April 28 by a District 4 constituent alleging that Lopez Chavez had moved out of her district. The city attorney’s office then notified her of the allegation in an email on May 1, which Lopez Chavez did not respond to, Reynolds wrote. The city attorney’s office sent a follow up email on May 5, and shortly after, the city learned Lopez Chavez had retained her own legal counsel.
Her attorneys told the city they would respond to the allegations by May 7, and Reynolds’ letter says Lopez Chavez’s attorneys responded on May 8 with a narrative summary and related documents.
Lopez Chavez’s attorneys told the city she lived in her District 4 home in December, and hasn’t had a fixed place of residence since Dec. 6, 2025. The attorneys wrote that Lopez Chavez moved out of her District 4 residence on Dec. 10. Since then, she has split time between the home she purchased in District 5 — which her attorneys said doubled as her campaign headquarters for her now-failed bid for U.S. Congress — her parent’s home outside of District 4, and other friends’ homes within District 4.
“By admission through your counsel, you failed to maintain a principal place of residence within District 4 since at least December 6, 2025, when you moved out of the (District 4) Property,” Reynolds’ letter to Lopez Chavez says. “Assuming these facts to be true, your attorneys concede that you do not have any principal place of residence, which is a requirement under state law for an elected officer of a municipality representing a council district.”
In a statement Tuesday, Lopez Chavez said she’s proud of the work she’s done to improve District 4, and that her work “does not end with a title or a seat.”
“What was announced today did not come from the community I serve,” Lopez Chavez said in a statement. “To everyone who placed their trust in me, thank you. I will continue to fight for you.”
Her attorneys, Alex Ramos and Andrew Deesing, added in a statement that they disagree with the city’s legal analysis, and “We are reviewing all available remedies.”
Lopez Chavez’s removal comes during the council’s budget season, where the city hammers out the citywide budget for the next fiscal year. The council is also looking at a vote in the coming months over significant changes to the city’s single-family zoning code, which will likely draw a number of people against the proposal. Because of District 4’s makeup of Downtown and other dense neighborhoods like Central City, previous council members have historically been supporters of zoning code changes and infill projects.
Lopez Chavez’s photo was removed from the council’s work session room prior to the council’s meetings Tuesday afternoon. The city’s District 4 website has also been scrubbed of her name and photo.
Prior to Tuesday’s council meetings, Council Chair Alejandro Puy told reporters that he and other council members were notified of Lopez Chavez’s vacated seat on Monday.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall issued a statement following Lopez Chavez’s removal: “All residents deserve representation. I look forward to the Council’s process to appoint an eligible representative to speak on behalf of District Four through the Fiscal Year 2027 budget process and beyond.”
The Tuesday announcement caps a turbulent few months for the now-former council member.
Lopez Chavez was accused of aggressive conduct against multiple women, including Council Member Victoria Petro, that were featured in reports by The Salt Lake Tribune. The Tribune later reported that Lopez Chavez had potentially moved out of District 4, which she represents, and into a home in District 5.
During council meetings Tuesday, council executive director Jennifer Bruno said the council has 30 days to appoint a replacement in accordance with state law, making June 11 the deadline for a new council member. She said the council will likely begin interviewing candidates, which will be done during public meetings, in early June.
Bruno said Tuesday that staff will work with District 4 residents to ensure their voices are included in the budget process.
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