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Draper Journal

Council Eliminates Double Stormwater Fees on Private Roads

Jun 29, 2016 10:53AM ● By Kelly Cannon

By Kelly Cannon | [email protected]


The Draper City Council approved the elimination of the collection of stormwater fees for parcels on a private road adjacent to single family or duplex residential parcels. The decision was reached during the June 7 city council meeting.  

 City Engineer Scott Cooley said the city has received a couple of challenges against the code and the way it is enforced, particularly in private streets.

 “The way we have it in our code, it specifically requires that every resident be charged as one [individual residential unit (IRU)], which is equivalent to one residential unit,” Cooley said. “In some cases, which we don’t have many cases throughout the city, we have private streets where they get charged one IRU and then they get charged a rate for the street because it is private.”

 Cooley said he has counted 62 units along a private road with 62 IRUs. There are also an additional 31 IRUs based in the area. This means the private street is charged one and a half times more than a public street.

 “Considering they are paying one and a half times more, the services the city provides is less than what we provide on a public road,” Cooley said. “On a public road, we sweep it and provide maintenance on the storm drain. On this private road, we don’t sweep and we don’t provide maintenance on the storm drain.”

 Councilmember Alan Summerhays asked if the city doesn’t maintain the roads, why the city was charging the residents. Cooley said the city maintains a storm drain system upstream and downstream from this particular road and it does combine with the system.

 “The stormwater fee goes toward the maintenance of these storm drains and also to pay for the street maintenance,” Cooley said. “In the private roads within those streets, we don’t maintain it.”

 Councilmember Jeff Stenquist said the city needs to arrive at an amount that is a fair fee. Councilmember Michele Weeks asked for clarification of the action item.

 “So this action item is to reduce the amount of money they are currently paying to something more in line with all the other residents of Draper?” Weeks asked.

 The council debated as to whether to table the vote until the next meeting when both Mayor Troy Walker and Councilmember William Rappleye would be present since both were absent. However, Weeks said she felt comfortable making a decision that night and made the motion to vote.