Tooele Council reviews WinCo Foods water‑rights request, agrees to bring corrected resolution to vote

Tooele City Council members spent the bulk of their Jan. 7 work meeting reviewing a resolution authorizing a water‑rights allocation for a proposed WinCo Foods development, then directed staff to return a corrected resolution for a business‑meeting vote that evening.

The item, presented by Economic Development Director John Perez, seeks 18.45 acre‑feet of water rights and cites an estimated project capital investment of $67,712,000 and creation of "210 full time jobs, 75 part time jobs," with pro forma sales and sales‑tax estimates included in Exhibits A and B. Perez noted the cost‑benefit analysis is required by UCA §10‑8‑2. "This is a resolution authorizing a water rights allocation for Winco Foods," Perez said when introducing the item.

WinCo representatives described the company’s development approach and rising construction costs. "Number 1, we will build our food store first," said Greg Goins, vice president of real estate for WinCo, adding that post‑COVID construction cost increases have pushed new store projects from roughly $25 million pre‑COVID to as much as $37–$40 million today. Goins said WinCo self‑develops pad sites to reduce overall project costs and that pad revenue is critical to making their pro forma work.

Engineering backup submitted with the request, and summarized by Susan Dillingham of Tate, breaks the request into 11.83 acre‑feet for the store (including irrigation) and 6.62 acre‑feet for the additional pad sites. "The total request for Winco Foods is 11.83 acre feet That covers the store and the irrigation," Dillingham said; the pad‑site quantity accounts for the remainder.

Council members raised fiscal and policy concerns about waiving water fees outright. Several members said the city uses proceeds from water‑rights sales to invest in water infrastructure and cautioned about setting a precedent for large fee waivers. One member summarized the tradeoff: waiving water fees reduces immediate city revenue but could accelerate private capital investment and generate property and sales tax over time.

A central area of follow‑up was the pro forma's sales and sales‑tax assumptions. The exhibits show an estimated grocery‑store sales figure and an associated city sales‑tax receipt expected in the pro forma, but council members noted the city's local option is 1% of gross sales and questioned whether the documents and staff presentation consistently reported city receipts versus total store sales. The transcript records differing figures used in discussion and requested staff verify the computations before the vote.

After discussion the council generally agreed on a compromise path for the resolution: (a) waive or otherwise provide the store's share of water rights (about 11.83 acre‑feet), and (b) allow WinCo to purchase the remaining pad‑site water (about 6.62 acre‑feet) at the city policy rate ($35,000 per acre‑foot), with an enforceable two‑year requirement to pull building permits or begin vertical construction to avoid land‑banking the allocation. Perez and Goins indicated that a fixed price and assurance the pad water remains available would be acceptable for WinCo to proceed.

The council asked staff to return a corrected resolution reflecting the agreed clarifications — including clarified sales‑tax math and the proposed split between waived and purchased acre‑feet — so members can vote at the 7 p.m. business meeting. No formal vote on the resolution was taken during the work meeting.

What happens next: staff will prepare an updated resolution and supporting materials for the business meeting, including explicit numerical clarifications on total sales, the city's expected 1% local option share, and the proposed water‑rights split and conditions for the pad sites.