Toolkit for counties and cities

Questions for a preliminary municipality feasibility hearing

"The study" is the feasibility study. "The sponsor" is the person who filed the request.

Impact fees

Impact fees make new growth pay for the roads, parks, and public safety it uses.

1. Does anything in Utah Code Title 10, Chapter 2a, Part 5 require the preliminary municipality to adopt the county impact fees, or to collect them and pay them to the county? If so, which section?
2. After the preliminary municipality gets land-use authority, who will issue its building permits, and at what point will county impact fees be collected?
3. Does the study count the county impact fee revenue that would be lost if the preliminary municipality does not collect county impact fees? Where does it appear?
4. What is the consultant's estimate of the county parks, roads, and public safety impact fees that would not be collected? If there is no estimate, why not?
5. If the new city provides no parks or public safety services, how will its growth pay for the county facilities that its residents and visitors use?
6. If county impact fees are not collected, who pays for the added demand on county roads, parks, and public safety: existing taxpayers, the special service districts, or the new city?

Wastewater

The study counts the cost of public sewer service at the level that the area around the land gets today. Part 5 does not require a finding that wastewater can be treated and permitted.

1. How many of the planned home lots meet the minimum lot size that the local health department requires for septic systems?
2. Did the consultant check the engineering, groundwater, and regulatory feasibility of the wastewater plan? If not, on what basis does the study accept it?
3. Has the local health department or the Utah Division of Water Quality reviewed the wastewater plan?
4. If the plan includes a hotel, nightly rentals, or commercial space, how will their wastewater be treated?
5. If central treatment is necessary, where will it come from, what will it cost, and how long will the permits and the construction take?
6. What would wastewater fees cost a household in the new city, and are those fees in the study's estimate of taxes and fees?
7. Does any part of the land drain to a drinking water source for existing residents? What analysis was done of that risk?

Water

Part 5 asks whether there will be enough water, but sets no standard for enough.

1. Is there a signed water delivery agreement today? If not, what standard did the consultant use to find that the water will be sufficient?
2. Which state approvals does the water supply need? Which of them have been applied for, and which have been granted?
3. How many acre-feet of water rights does the land hold today?
4. If those rights do not cover full buildout, where will the rest come from? Are they secured, or only identified?
5. Who builds the pipelines, the storage, and the other water infrastructure? What is the route, what is the cost, and where is that cost in the study?
6. Does the named water provider hold enough water rights to serve this project and its current customers? Has the Utah Division of Water Rights confirmed it?
7. If the named provider cannot serve the land, what is the backup plan, what would it cost, and who would pay for it?

Roads, access, and evacuation

Part 5 does not require a traffic study or an evacuation plan.

1. What improved roads reach the land today, and how much traffic can each road carry?
2. Was a traffic study done for the full plan at buildout? Can it be entered into the record?
3. What upgrades to county roads outside the boundary will the project need, and who will pay for them?
4. Which entity decides whether the access meets fire, emergency, and development standards? Will that decision come before the preliminary municipality gets land-use authority?
5. How many separate access routes will the development have for fire trucks and for evacuation?
6. If the land is in the wildland-urban interface, was a wildfire evacuation modeled at peak occupancy, with visitors? How long would a full evacuation take?
7. How will construction traffic be routed, and who will repair damage to county roads?
8. What authority and what money does the preliminary municipality have to build or improve roads outside its own boundary?

Fire, EMS, and police

The study must estimate the cost of services at the level of the area around the land today.

1. Did the consultant consult the fire district? Does the fire district agree with the study's estimate of the effect on its service?
2. What are the expected emergency response times from the nearest fire station to the farthest point of the development?
3. Will the development need a new fire station? If so, who will build, equip, and staff it?
4. Does the sheriff or the police agency agree with the study's law enforcement cost? If not, why does the study keep its figure?
5. Did the study estimate calls for service from hotels, nightly rentals, commercial space, and events?
6. Do the projected revenues of the new city cover its share of fire, EMS, and police costs? If not, who makes up the difference?
7. Could development at this density happen on this land under the current county zoning?

Snow and road upkeep

The preliminary municipality must maintain the roads that existed in it and next to it on the day the request was filed. It must also maintain connected roads within half a mile (10-2a-509(6)).

1. What does the study's road cost per mile include? How much of it is snow removal?
2. Where does the study's road cost figure come from? Why that source, and not an estimate for this site?
3. What road grades does the plan include? Can snowplows clear those roads safely?
4. What equipment, staff, and buildings will snow removal need? Who will own them, and who will pay for them?
5. Does the study pass the 5% test only if the new roads stay private? If so, what recorded agreement keeps them private?
6. If a homeowners' association stops maintaining private roads, or asks the city to take them, who pays?

Affordable housing

The owners must intend that 10% of the housing is affordable. Part 5 does not say when, where, or how, and it has no step that checks that the homes get built.

1. How many affordable homes does the sponsor commit to build, and for households at what share of the area median income?
2. Where will the affordable homes be built, and when, compared with the market-rate homes?
3. What keeps the affordable homes affordable, such as a deed restriction, and for how many years?
4. Does the study include the cost of building the affordable homes?
5. How many people will work in the development at buildout, in the hotel, the commercial space, and the services for residents?
6. Where will those workers live, and what effect will that have on housing in the rest of the county?
7. After the state accepts the request, which entity checks that the affordable homes get built? What happens if they are not built?

Occupancy and the path to an elected government

Residents elect a mayor and council only after more than 99 people live there (10-2a-510).

1. What share of the homes does the study assume will be lived in full time? What local data supports that figure?
2. What full-time occupancy do comparable developments in this county have?
3. What would the population be at those comparable rates?
4. At the occupancy of comparable developments, in what year would the population pass 99 people? Does that fit the deadlines in 10-2a-507(3)?
5. Did the study test other occupancy rates? If not, will the consultant add that test?
6. Which costs, such as roads, snow removal, and fire protection, actually go down when homes are empty for part of the year?

City staffing and costs

A city has fixed costs before it has many residents.

1. What staff and contracts does the first-year general government budget pay for?
2. A city has fixed costs, such as a clerk, an attorney, an auditor, and insurance. If the study scales these costs by population, why does it not estimate the fixed minimum?
3. Which cities and towns did the study use for its cost per person? Which of them is most like this project?
4. Which services will employees provide, and which will contractors provide? What is the yearly cost of each?
5. If the study shows a deficit in any year, who pays for city operations until revenue covers costs?
6. Before the city has residents, who pays for planning, engineering review, and building inspection? Are those costs in the study?

Oversight

Before the city has voters, a board on which the owners name four of the five members makes its decisions.

1. Before the city has resident voters, who makes its zoning and land-use decisions?
2. Who selects and pays the independent engineer who approves building permits under 10-2a-509(7)?
3. What rule keeps the engineer and the inspectors independent of the owners, and who can replace them?
4. Before residents elect a government, who enforces state and federal stormwater, wetlands, and erosion rules on the project?
5. Who confirms that road widths, grades, and turnarounds meet the fire code?
6. Will the county or any other independent party have the authority to review plans or stop work for safety or code violations?
7. Which conflict of interest rules apply to board members whom the owners appoint, when they make land-use decisions?

If the project stalls or fails

If residents do not elect a mayor and council in time, its roads and infrastructure go to the county (10-2a-507(3)).

1. Who are the principals of each company that owns the land or sponsors the request?
2. What bonds, guarantees, or escrow back the infrastructure promises and the duties in Part 5?
3. The bond under 10-2a-507(1)(h) is in favor of the preliminary municipality. What protects the county if the preliminary municipality is dissolved?
4. If the deadlines in 10-2a-507(3) pass, what happens to partly built roads, water systems, and wastewater systems?
5. If the company behind the project dissolves or goes bankrupt, who becomes responsible for the obligations it leaves?
6. Do the principals give personal guarantees for completion? If not, what other security backs completion?
7. Did the study look at a case where the project fails or is only partly built? If not, why not?
8. If the plan includes hotel or commercial uses and they are not built, how much of the projected revenue disappears? Is there a market study for those uses?

The feasibility finding

The process stops if revenue does not beat costs by more than 5%, unless a changed boundary passes a supplemental study (10-2a-504(5) and 10-2a-505).

1. How much added yearly cost, or lost revenue, would push the margin below the 5% threshold?
2. If the study lists risks with no cost attached, does the margin stay above 5% when any one of those risks happens?
3. Which key assumptions came from the sponsor, and which did the consultant check?
4. If the consultant says that some issues are outside 10-2a-504, which entity will evaluate them before the preliminary municipality gets land-use authority? Can that entity deny or condition the project?
5. If the study says the future city can adopt fees for water, wastewater, or roads, what would those fees cost a household? Why are they not in the tax estimate?
6. If the county's figures on impact fees, occupancy, or road costs differ from the study, would the consultant stand by the finding if the county's figures proved correct?