February 3, 2023
Dear Golden Eagle Lot Owner:
As you may be aware, on January 13, 2023, Fourth District Court Judge Mabey issued an oral ruling on Mustang Development, LLC’s Motion to Enforce and for Sanctions against the Town of Hideout. In doing so, the Court denied Mustang’s motion. The written order memorializing the ruling has not yet been entered by the Court, but once that Order is entered the Town will put it on our website.
As relevant to the Town’s issuance of building permits in the Golden Eagle Subdivision, the Court made several findings of which you should be aware. These include: (1) when the Court issued her prior order after the hearing in July 2022, the Court did not order Hideout to issue building permits; (2) the Town’s letters to building permit applicants sent after that order explaining what conditions still needed to be met to before the Town could issue building permits (the Letters) complied with the Court’s prior order and were tailored to each application; and (3) conditions listed in the Letters Hideout sent after that order listing reasons why building permits could not yet be issued are not pretextual and include conditions that need to be met before building permits could issue.
This letter is provided to update you on progress made to date to satisfy the conditions that once met, will result in the Town issuing building permits to permit applicants. Please note that each lot was evaluated on a case-by-case basis in reviewing the applications, and each Letter identified conditions specific to that application. The following addresses all conditions that were identified in the Letters. Therefore, as noted below, some of these conditions may or may not apply to your particular application or Lot.
- Submittal Requirements. Please see your Letter for submittal requirements for your particular building permit application which may be outstanding. Please note that these requirements are the responsibility of the lot owner, not Mustang. If your Letter included submittal requirements and you have made progress on those requirements, please let the Town know so that we can update your application.
- Fire Access Road. (NOT YET COMPLETE). Timm Dixon, Director of Engineering, inspected and photographed Golden Eagle Road on February 3, 2023. As of that date, and as illustrated by the photographs attached, the road does not have an all-weather surface as required by the Fire District. In fact, and as illustrated by the included photographs, recent weather events and intermittent plowing of the road appear to have further disrupted the surface such that access by heavy fire apparatus could be impaired under varying conditions. Additionally, there has been no improvement to the road’s shoulders at the main entry, shoulders which are incomplete, have open trenches and are failing.
- Fire Flows. (NEARLY COMPLETE). As of February 1, 2023, the pump station has been completed and power has been connected to the station. The pump station and the water system were approved by the Division of Drinking Water on January 31, 2023. Now that the water system is complete, we are proceeding with pressure tests of all lines affecting lots requesting permits. (These pressure tests will be assessed on a lot-by-lot basis so that if a line fails, that failure won’t impact lots that are not on that particular line.) The Town is hoping to complete these tests next week.
- Fire Turn Arounds. (OUTLAW ROAD NOT YET COMPLETE; OTHER AREAS COMPLETE). As of February 3, 2023, turn arounds at the end of Outlaw Road appear to still be under construction. (See attached photo.) For all lots not on those roads, this condition has been completed.
- (AREAS COMPLETE – GOLDEN EAGLE CIRCLE; AREAS NOT COMPLETE – OTHER INTERIOR ROADS). As of February 3, 2023, the evidence shows that the shoulders were not installed before the snow came as witnessed in the pictures attached. Mr. Dixon inspected all roads in Phase 1 of the Golden Eagle Subdivision. The shoulders on Golden Eagle Circle are complete.
- Storm Drain Plan. (NEARLY COMPLETE). Late in the afternoon on Wednesday, February 1, 2023, Mustang provided the Town with a Storm Drain Plan. The Town is currently reviewing that Plan to verify that the Plan meets applicable standards and there are no adverse impacts to Town infrastructure or lots downstream (e.g., offsite flows or to the lots requesting permits) and will promptly provide written feedback to Mustang if necessary.
- Improvement Completion Assurance for Infrastructure Improvements (NOT YET COMPLETE). As of February 3, 2023, Mustang has not submitted an engineer’s cost estimate to finish public infrastructure that is essential or required to meet building code, fire code, and flood or storm water management provisions, street and access requirements. However, once infrastructure is accepted by the Town, there is no need for a completion assurance for that portion of the infrastructure. As of February 3, 2023, no infrastructure has been presented to Hideout for acceptance and no engineer’s estimate, or assurance has been provided to Hideout. As discussed above in #3, progress is being made toward Town acceptance of the water system.
Because some of the conditions described above have not been completed, under Former Hideout Municipal Code 7.03.101 and current Hideout Code 8.06.010 and 9.07 (Insufficient Infrastructure for Proposed Development) and Utah Code Section 10-9a-802, Hideout remains unable to issue building permits in response to the applications it has received at this time. However, the Town is working diligently to review recently submitted items as they come and will continue to do so. Also, as stated above, the parties are working to resolve the outstanding conditions, and we hope to have better news in the next short while.
When we have further updates, we will let you know. Again, if your Letter included submittal requirements and you have made progress on those requirements, please let us know so that we can update your application.
We look forward to being able to issue you a building permit and having you be able to move forward with the building of your home in Hideout.