By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Stating enough time had been spent working on a policy to
deal with water impact fees, Mona Mayor Bryce Lynn, said the
time had come to vote and he cast a vote in favor of the
ordinances.
The vote was taken following the public hearing held on
Tuesday, April 25, at 8 p.m. at town hall, where council
member, Doran Kay, entered a protest against the action.
Regardless of Kay's protest, council members voted three to
one in favor of the two new ordinances (the mayor's vote
made it four to one).
"It's been worked on for 14 months," said Lynn. Even
though there were a few things he wasn't thrilled about, he
was still prepared to vote in favor of adoption. "It's fair
and I can live with it."
Lynn said the town had spent a great deal of money on
getting expert advise and the longer the issue carried on
the more expensive it became.
All council members, excepting Kay, indicated they were
prepared to vote to adopt the ordinances as written.
"A town cannot sell water. I'm sorry, but it is just
illegal," said Rick Schnurr, council member. "We have been
advised to adopt the ordinances as they are before us
tonight."
"We cannot adopt any wording that would be illegal and
would place the town in the position of being sued," said
Schnurr.
Phil Lowry, town attorney, and Bruce Parker, community
planner with the Utah Association of Counties in Planning
and Development Services, gave a stamp of approval to the
ordinances prior to the meeting, said Schnurr.
Kay asked to see a FAX he said he expected to receive
from Parker which, he said, should have arrived at town hall
after 4 p.m.
Lynn said the FAX would not make a difference and did not
need to be distributed to the council. "There is no need,"
he said.
"What are you afraid of? What's so wrong about seeing
it?" asked Kay.
The remarks Parker made in the FAX, said Lynn, did make
some comments on the impact fees, however, Parker said he
made only a cursory review of the ordinance and deferred
"completely to the town's very capable attorney who is
advising the town on legal matters that may be related to
ordinance #4-25-00-1 and compliance with the statutory and
case law requirements for the imposition of impact
fees."
"We have discussed these ordinances over and over," said
Darlene Fowkes, council member. She said the council had
consultations and had studied the proposals and, in fact,
had considered several different ideas. She thought the time
for action had arrived.
Glenda Buchanan, council member, agreed and made the
motion to accept the first ordinance establishing a water
impact fee as it was written.
"As authorized by the Impact Fee Ordinance, the town has
proposed imposing a water impact fee based upon the Report
on Mona Town Capital Improvements Expenses and Capital
Facilities Plan and Water Impact Fee Schedule," Schnurr read
from the public hearing notice.
The impact fee will be a bifurcated schedule of fees
consisting of an impact fee of $3,488 per residential
building permit or an impact fee of $1,543 plus 1 1/2
acre-feet of water per residential building permit.
Those seeking a residential building permit have the
option to pay either fee. The impact fees may be adjusted
according to the building permittee's ability to provide
supplemental water.
"The town's legal fees for this project are a lot more
than they could be," said Schnurr. "Every time you (Kay)
call, or one of us asks a question, it costs us. It (expert
consultation) isn't free."
The vote on the Extraterritorial Water Connection
Ordinance, which establishes standards and procedures for
those outside the town limits to hook up to the culinary
water system, was the same&emdash;four to one.
Minimum standards are that the applicant for an
extraterritorial connection demonstrate that they cannot be
annexed into the town, and that they pay, as a fee, at least
as much as imposed by the Water Impact Fee Schedule.
"I oppose," said Kay. "I won't state my objections
because they will just fall on deaf ears."
|
