Weber County agrees to amend Trappers Crossing sewer agreement language after owner seeks market-rate flexibility

Weber County commissioners on Oct. 20 reviewed a request to alter a 2011 sewer agreement covering Trappers Crossing and agreed to remove an outdated anticipatory-dollar line that had confused the property owner.

County staff explained the 2011 agreement gave the developer the right to sell unused sewer connections to any property owner who later wished to connect to the Trappers Crossing treatment system. The agreement also contained a 2011 "anticipated connection fee" figure of $7,812, calculated at the time by dividing an anticipated upgrade cost across 40 units.

Paul Lawton, the owner of the remaining connection rights, told county staff he had waited more than a decade to sell those rights and believed the 2011 figure left him unable to recover sunk costs; he asked the county to allow the connections to be sold at a current market rate. County staff and the commission noted the contract language gives the developer responsibility to set and collect any sale amount and that the word "anticipated" did not bind future purchasers to the 2011 number.

To remove the ambiguity, commissioners directed staff to amend the agreement to eliminate the sentence identifying the 2011 dollar figure as the anticipated connection fee. Commissioners said they did not intend to determine or impose a current market price; instead, they preferred to remove the dated, possibly misleading language and leave negotiations between the developer and potential buyers.

County staff also noted that any future developer would still be responsible for necessary system upgrades (additional "pods" and capacity improvements) before new connections could be activated. Commissioners asked staff to memorialize the change and to coordinate transition language with the future city that will assume local infrastructure responsibilities once incorporation is complete.