11.04.070 Appeal Procedure.
1. Application. The appeal procedure applies both to challenges to the legality of impact fees, to similar and related fees of the City and to the interpretation and/or application of those fees. By way of illustration, in addition to the legality of the impact fee schedule, determinations of the density of a development activity or calculation of the amount of the impact fee due will also be subject to this appeal procedure.
2. Declaratory Judgment Action. Any person or entity residing in or owning property within the city and any organization, association or corporation representing the interests of persons or entities owning property within the City may file a declaratory judgment action challenging the validity of an impact fee only after having first exhausted their administrative remedies of this Section.
3. Request for Information Concerning the Fee. Any person or entity required to pay an impact fee may file a written request for information concerning the fee with the City. The City will provide the person with the impact fee analysis and other information relating to the impact fee within fourteen (14) days after receipt of the request for information.
4. Appeal to the City Before Payment of the Impact Fee. Affected or potentially affected person or entity wishing to challenge an impact fee prior to payment may file a written request for information concerning the fee and proceed under the appeal procedure.
5. Appeal to the City After Payment of the Impact Fee; Statue of Limitations for Failure to File. Any person or entity that has paid an impact fee and wishes to challenge the fee shall file a written request for information concerning the fee within thirty (30) days after having paid the fee and proceed under the City’s appeal procedure. If thirty (30)days has passed after payment of the impact fee and a written request for information or challenge has not been filed with the City, the person or entity is barred from filing an administrative appeal with the City or seeking judicial relief.
6. Appeal to the City. Any developer, landowner or affected party desiring to challenge the legality of any impact fee or related fee or exaction may appeal directly to the City Council by filing a written challenge with the City, provided that the affected party does so in writing within thirty (30) days after the action or decision to which the appeal relates. If no written challenge is filed with the City within the said thirty (30) day’s period, the affected party may neither process an administrative appeal with the City nor seek judicial relief.
a. Hearing. An informal hearing will be held not sooner than five (5) nor more than twenty-five (25) days after a written appeal to the City Council is filed.
b. Decision. After the conclusion of the informal hearing, the City Council, by majority vote, shall affirm, reverse, or take action with respect to the challenge or appeal as the City Council deems to be appropriate in light of the City’s policies and procedures and any applicable law, rule or regulation. The decision of the City Council may include the establishment of calculation of the impact fee applicable to the development activity at issue; any impact fee set by the City Council may include the establishment or calculation of the impact fee applicable to the development activity at issue. Fees set by the City Council may be the same as or higher or lower than that being appealed provided that it shall not be higher than the maximum allowed under the City’s lawful impact fee rate or formula which is either in existence on the effective date of the Act or as promulgated under the Impact Fees Policy, as appropriate. The decision of the City Council will be issued within thirty (30) days after the date the written challenge was filed with the City as mandated by Utah Code Annotated §11-36-401(4)(b). In light of the statutorily mandated time restriction, the City shall not be required to provide more than three (3) working days prior notice of the time, date and location of the informal hearing and the inconvenience of the hearing to the challenging party shall not serve as a basis of appeal of the City’s final determination.
7. Denial Due to Passage of Time. Should the city, for any reason, fail to issue a final decision on a written challenge to an impact fee, its calculation or application, within thirty (30) days after the filing of that challenge with the City, the Challenge shall be deemed to have been denied and any affected party to the proceedings may seek appropriate judicial relief from such denial.
8. Judicial Review. Any party to the administrative action who is adversely affected by the City’s final decision must petition the City Court for a review of the decision within ninety (90) days of a final City decision upholding an impact fee, its calculation or application, or within one hundred twenty (120) days after the written challenge to the impact fee, its calculation or application, was filed with the City, whichever is earlier.
a. Record of Proceedings. After having been served with a copy of the pleadings initiating the City Court review, the City shall submit to the Court the record of the proceedings before the City, including minutes, and if available, a true and correct transcript of any proceedings. If the City is able to provide a record of the proceedings, the City Court’s review is limited, by Utah Code Annotated §11-36-401(5)(c) to the record of the Court may not accept or consider evidence outside of the record of proceedings before the City unless the evidence was offered to the City and improperly excluded in the proceeding before the City. If the record is inadequate, however, the Court may call witnesses and take evidence. The Court is to affirm the City’s decision if the decision is supported by substantial evidence in the record.