After resisting at first, development company Extell has paid fire impact fees on properties it is building next to the Mayflower ski resort.
In recent months, development company Extell has argued that Wasatch County impact fees should be adjusted relative to the size of the space. The company is building hotels and condos at the Mayflower Mountain Resort and sought to pay lower fees for 402 smaller apartments.
“If we had made two- to three-bedroom condos out of these, the impact fees would be much less. But because we’re charging the same rate for a 400-foot apartment as we are for a 4000-foot house, that’s why we say this doesn’t seem like it’s being applied fairly,” said Glen Clement, vice president of Extell, to the Wasatch County Council at a meeting in April.
Extell has since paid the impact fees under protest after the county did not make an adjustment to the amounts. The money will go directly to the Wasatch Fire District.
The adjusted payment amount that Extell proposed would have reduced the impact fee amount from $369,840 to $142,379.20, a 62% difference.
Later in the meeting, Wasatch County councilman Kendall Crittenden said the argument did not convince him.
He did not agree with the validity of the metrics the company used to propose the reduced fee amounts, which were based on water allocation. He said the higher density of units on a property such as the Extell condos puts more potential strain on the fire department, which is why impact fees are charged uniformly, according to a January, 2020 ordinance.
“Wasatch County has bent over backwards to make this thing work, and we want [the development] to be as successful as it can possibly be," Crittenden said in response to Clement. "But there’s no way that I want to sacrifice the public safety for you guys to be able to save a few bucks.”
Last week, Chief Ernie Giles said he hopes the issue is in the past, now that Extell has paid the impact fees in full.
“I think through the discussion, I hope, the district and Extell can come together without having to go to legal, or the court systems. I think we’re going to be able to work it out,” he said.
The facilities of the Extell development will be built in phases. The Mayflower Mountain Resort - a $3 billion development - is a project of the Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA), which currently boasts of having the two largest economic development projects in the state. MIDA was created in 2007.
The first hotel will begin construction in the fall, for which the general contractor has announced a grand opening in December 2023.
