FACT SHEET ON THE LAWSUIT FILED BY TOOELE ASSOCIATES AGAINST TOOELE CITY

About the Lawsuit: Tooele Associates (the developers of the Overlake community within Tooele City) are filing the lawsuit against the City of Tooele on the grounds that city officials aren’t obeying state law regarding municipal impact fees. In addition, Tooele Associates will argue that the city is failing to fulfill contractual obligations made in an agreement in 1997 to the Overlake community, and by extension, to the citizens of Tooele. At the crux of the matter is a portion of the 1997 agreement that allows the city to collect impact fees for homes built in Overlake, and which specifically states that these impact fees will be used to build parks within the Overlake project area. (To date, the city has collected over $1 million and has spent $472,000 on parks within Overlake.) However, Tooele Mayor Charlie Roberts wants to build a new swimming pool outside of the Overlake project using money from the Overlake impact fees. To do this, he has created a new type of impact fee, which the city is calling a special impact fee. What’s more, this money is being taken from Overlake impact fees collected as far back as 1997. The new fee effectively allows the mayor to designate Overlake money for special city projects not agreed upon in the 1997 contract. Obviously, the swimming pool will fall under this special project category.

The lawsuit seeks to stop the city from spending Overlake impact fees on non-Overlake projects. Tooele Associates is maintaining that instead of using Overlake’s impact fees to build a swimming pool, the city should adhere to its original agreement and build soccer fields within the Overlake project for the benefit of all Tooele residents. Furthermore, Tooele Associates estimates that had the city stood by its original contract, approximately $528,000 would be available to construct soccer fields.

A key phrase from the original 1997 contract reads: “The city will use park and recreation impact fees, imposed on all preliminary and final subdivision plats and all site plan approvals for areas within the Overlake project area, and collected at time of building permit issuance, to improve park areas within the Overlake project area.”

Tooele Associates’ Compliance with the Original Contract: According to Drew D. Hall, managing partner for Tooele Associates, the 1997 agreement with the city also required Tooele Associates to fulfill specific obligations. These obligations, in conjunction with the obligations made by the city, were intended to result in a win-win situation for Tooele Associates, Tooele City and the citizens of Tooele as a whole. In the contract, Tooele Associates agreed to:

1. Sell and dedicate to the city for parks, at a price of $5,000 per acre, approximately 150 acres of land within the Overlake project area. (Public records indicate that Tooele City has purchased other comparable property to be used in developing parks for $27,000 per acre.)
   
2. Build an 18-hole public golf course at no cost to the city. (The Links at Overlake officially opened for play last year.)
   
3. Pay Tooele City park impact fees for each home in Overlake at the time of building permit issuance. The park impact fee is by state law meant to provide the city with funds to build parks and recreational facilities required to cope with new developments.
   

For Information: Please contact Drew Hall of Tooele Associates at (435)843-1087

or via e-mail at overlake@trilobyte.net