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Impact Fees Heroes Park -,- WILSON & MCCOLL ---- LAWYERS - ._""--- JEFFREY M. WilSON ¡eft@wllsonmccoILcom BRIAN F. McCOll brlan@wilsonmccolLcom USA 8. RASMUSSEN Usa@wilsonmccoll.com 420 WEST WASHINGTON POST OFF1CE: SOX 1544 BOISE, IDAHO 83702 TElEPHONE: (208) 345-9100 FACSIMilE: (208) 384-0442 January 25, 2006 RECEIVED FEB 1 3 2006 Ted Baird Assistant City Attorney City of Meridian 703 Main Street Meridian, Idaho 83642 City Of Meridian City Clerk Office RE: Hero Park at Lochsa Falls Subdivision Dear Ted: I am writing on behalf of Farwest, LLC. In particular, Farwest is requesting that the City Council consider a modification to the reimbursement obligation to purchase ZO.51 acres of the 25.6 acres that is being developed as Hero Park. Originally, the Development Agreement between the City, various land owners (Brandt, Goldsmith, Gibson and Martin), and Falwest, LLC provided that Farwest would provide a 25 acre community park by gifting 5.09 acres and selling the remaining 20.51 acres to the City. The sales price at $28,703 per acre was $588,699.00. The Development Agreement provided that Farwest would be reimbursed the purchase price from "100 percent of the park impact fees collected from the Lochsa Falls project, up to the cost of the 20.51 acres." See Development Agreement, pg. 10. The Development Agreement was entered into in connection with the preliminary plat for the Lochsa Falls Subdivision prepared by Briggs Engineering on August 1, ZO02. At that point the "Lochsa Falls Subdivision" and/or the Lochsa Falls Project consisted of 357.15 acres. The Development Agreement went on to provide that the permitted uses were "856 single family dwellings, 171 multi-family dwellings, 11 office buildings, 1 commercial building, 1 City park, 1 private park, and 1 future fire station lot." At the time the project was annexed, zoned and granted preliminary plat approval there were several owners, which parties all executed the Development Agreement. By the time the project was developed, Farwest owned and developed approximately 252 acres as the Lochsa Falls Subdivision and the 80-acre Gibson property was developed by Kevin A. Howell Construction, Inc. as a portion of the "Fulfer Subdivision," with the remaining 25 acres developed as a City community park. At the time of the Development Agreement, there was just one project. In accordance with the Development Agreement, the City has been collecting the park impact fees, but only from the "Lochs a Falls Subdivision," and paying them over to Falwest To date Farwest has received $438,015.45 for 651 lots. Lochsa Falls has 691 (of the 856 permitted) single family Ted Baird Assistant City Attorney January 25, 2006 Page - 2 residential lots and when park impact fees are collected on the remaining 40 lots, the unpaid balance of the park purchase price will be $120,157.15. The Development Agreement, along with an Addendum entered into in January, 2004, was at best ambiguous with respect to what would happen if there was a shortfall. No one doubts that the 25 acre park benefits many hundred, if not more than a thousand families that have moved to the north Meridian area. Although the original Development Agreement referenced collecting impact fees only from the "Lochsa Falls Project," at the time of the Agreement the Lochsa Falls Project was 856 single family dwellings, or essentially 165 single family lots more than what were subsequently developed in the subdivision known as Lochsa Falls. Essentially, the Gibson 80-acre property contains the other single family lots, not to mention the proposed office and multi-family development. Had the impact fees from the relevant portion of the Fulfer Subdivision been included, there would be little or no deficiency. Farwest respectfully asks the counsel to consider this inequity. One solution would be to start segregating park impact fees from the relevant portion of the Fulfer Subdivision, and if the fees from that subdivision are not sufficient to complete the payment of the full purchase price, I believe that the Council can go further to complete the contract by collecting impact fees from one or more ofthe neighboring subdivisions; those that clearly benefit from the community park. In fact, in both the Development Agreement and the referenced Addendum, it contemplated the right of the Developer to apply to the City to have park impact fees from other projects paid over to Farwest until the purchase price was retired. Admittedly, the language referred to the Developer making such application in the event the City approves a City Park zone system. I understand that there is no such zone system, but it is consistent with that concept to utilize impact fees from adjacent subdivisions to pay for this park. In closing, despite the ambiguities, it is clear that Farwest's intention was to gift only 5.09 acres, and to caDY what was a below-market purchase price of $588,699 without interest over time until it was paid. The right to include the relevant portion oftbe Fulfer Subdivision is well within the language of the addendum which says in pertinent part: "Park impact fees paid to the City of Meridian from lots sold in the Lochsa Falls Subdivision or in any other property developed and property described in Exhibit A of the Development Agreement" shall be paid over to the Developer. Exhibit A was the entire 357 acres. Thank you for considering this request, and please let me know if you can get it on the City Council's agenda for Thursday, January 26th, 2006, and if you think it will be helpful for myself or some other representative of Farwest to be present at the hearing to speak on the issue. BFM/rc cc. Farwest L.L.c.