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- An Ogden Valley developer has filed suit against a water provider stemming from a dispute over water rights for development.
- Wolf Creek Resort Holdings claims the local water district is unfairly blocking its development efforts by denying access to water.
- The water district says it has "limited" access to water, but the developer challenges that.
OGDEN — A developer's foiled efforts to secure water rights for proposed development in the Ogden Valley in Weber County is now the focus of a court fight, underscoring split opinion on water availability.
Moreover, the simmering dispute in the growing area — coming amid ongoing debate across the state about water scarcity — highlights what one of the developers in the new Ogden Valley court case terms weaponization of water control.
"There is an ongoing issue with water companies and districts in the (Ogden) Valley weaponizing their control of water to block development," said Shane Dunleavy, one of the owners of Wolf Creek Resort Holdings. Water company officials, he charged, sometimes act as "political activists" to fight development, which he sees occurring in the Ogden Valley.
In the latest sally, Wolf Creek Resort Holdings filed suit on Monday in 2nd District Court in Ogden against the Wolf Creek Water and Sewer Improvement District, a public water provider that serves the area. The resort holding firm, developer of varied projects in the Wolf Creek area north of Eden, maintains that the water district has improperly rebuffed its moves to secure the water rights it needs for its housing proposals, stalling them.
The water district has sufficient water capacity, but district officials are "just actively choosing not to use it," Dunleavy said. "They seem to believe that they are under no obligation. I can only assume they don't want development, but I don't know that for a fact."
Rob Thomas, general manager of the water district, declined comment on Friday with the issue now in court. But the district said in a statement Thursday that it currently has access to just one culinary water source, the Warm Springs well, though efforts are afoot to bring a second well online, which might add capacity.
Access to just one well "has greatly limited our options, though we have been tirelessly attempting to add sources," reads the statement. "Given our good faith efforts, we are saddened by the additional lawsuit filed against us by the developers. While we cannot comment on the specifics of ongoing litigation, we take this opportunity to reaffirm that we will fight for the rights of our current customers."
Development in the Ogden Valley, home to three ski resorts and Pineview Reservoir and a popular getaway area, is an increasingly controversial subject. Most notably, it spurred a successful drive by advocates worried about overdevelopment to incorporate part of the area east of Ogden on the Wasatch Back in a bid to assure increased local control over growth.
Water availability, though, isn't as dire an issue as some contend, according to Dunleavy. Water reports and studies the Wolf Creek developers have accessed in recent months via public records requests show that the water district can access more water than it lets on, he said.
Accordingly, the suit seeks a minimum of $19.5 million in damages from the Wolf Creek water entity. It seeks at least $2.5 million to cover the cost of water shares the developer says it was unnecessarily required to convey to the water district as part of its efforts to secure water rights. It seeks a minimum of $17 million more to offset economic losses the developer says it has incurred from not being able to develop its project owing to lack of access to water.
"The water is the only thing stopping us," Dunleavy said. Two projects are stalled due to the water issue while a third is "limping along." Together, the projects call for development of 331 single-family homes, 292 condominiums and townhomes, a hotel and 60,000 square-feet of commercial space.
Dunleavy said four other projects other developers are pursuing in the Wolf Creek area are also stalled due to lack of water access. Wolf Creek, located between Eden and the Powder Mountain ski resort, is one of the biggest clusters of housing in the Ogden Valley.
A Utah Geological Survey official he consulted says the area where Wolf Creek is located is "one of the healthiest water basins in the state and the one they worried about the least," he said. "There's just a lot of fear-mongering around water in this valley."
He said state officials have reached out to the Wolf Creek developers, saying similar issues are emerging elsewhere. There's even talk of legislation to address the "weaponization of water control," he said.
Correction: An earlier version said U.S. Geological Survey officials told Dunleavy the water basin in the Wolf Creek area is "one of the healthiest" in the state. In fact, it was a Utah Geological Survey official who told him that.
