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Judge: City of Lehi's fees against homebuilder illegal, unconstitutional
By | Posted Dec 30th, 2015 @ 8:55pm
LEHI — Lehi's fees charged to a man for building a home on a new property were calculated using vague methods that are "illegal and unconstitutional," according to a 4th District Court ruling from earlier this month.
In October 2012, the city charged resident Gordon Miner more than $25,000 in "impact fees" as a prerequisite for building a home on a nearly 1.4-acre property at 1058 N. 1710 East.
The fees, designed to account for and fund city improvements necessitated by residential growth, unnecessarily tacked on a pair of additional 15 percent fees for "Legal/Planning and Engineering" and "Contingency" considerations, according to Judge Fred Howard.
Howard said those additional charges violate Utah's Impact Fees Act, which says residents' required payments must be thoroughly explained in a written analysis by the city. Lehi prepared such an analysis, but it lacked "any explanation as to why the flat 15 (percent) charges … are reasonable," the judge wrote.
"The analysis simply does not contain any realistic estimate, assumptions, or facts upon which the reasonableness of these 15 (percent) charges may be assessed," Howard wrote.
Lehi was ordered to pay nearly $12,700 to Miner, who specifically challenged the fees exacted on his property for the city's culinary water, secondary water, sewer and storm drain services. Miner previously paid all of the original fees required of him by the city.
Lehi failed to demonstrate that the totality of its fees against Miner were roughly proportional to the services that would be provided to him, according to Howard.
"It is equally likely that these charges will be used for a purpose that is unrelated to Mr. Miner's property as they will be to mitigate any impact Mr. Miner may actually produce in the community," he wrote.
The city's actions amount to "an unconstitutional taking of private property without just compensation," the judge said.
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