Another revision of its controversial masonry ordinance apparently won't keep the city out of court.
The Home Builders Association of Greater Salt Lake said this week it has no intention of dropping the suit it filed against the city in August. The HBA wants a 3rd District judge to throw out the law, which requires specified materials to be used on the outside of new homes.Last month, the city voted to amend the ordinance, which, when originally approved in June, called for 50 percent of main-floor exteriors to be brick, tile, stucco or stone. The new version calls for an area equal to four times the perimeter of the home to be covered with one of the specified materials.
For the typical home, the new equation still adds up to about half of the exterior square footage of the main floor, according to Tom Van Voorst, executive officer of the HBA.
"The main point of the lawsuit is still there, and that is that they're still requiring a percentage of a certain type of material on the house," he said. "We're still asking to overturn that ordinance based on the fact that it goes beyond the reach of what a city can ask for in the permit process."
According to Van Voorst and Riverton-area builder Ron Thorne, the masonry requirements increase the cost of a typical home by $3,000 to $6,000. Combined with other residential building requirements passed by the City Council in the past two years, Thorne said, the cost of building a home in Riverton has gone up by about $25,000.
"There's been a lot of hoopla in our valley over the brick ordinance, and it's really infuriating to a lot of people," Thorne said. "But this is just the tip of the iceberg."
Thorne said the consensus in the building community is that the amendment made the ordinance easier for home builders to interpret and implement but did not change the bottom line.
Riverton City Administrator William Way said city officials met with several builders prior to passing the amended ordinance Nov. 15. He said some builders have expressed support for the ordinance, which had been amended previously, in its newly revised form.
"In essence what we've accomplished is we've given greater flexibility to the builder as to where they have to put the masonry materials," Way said. "So we're still getting the masonry materials, which gives us the fresh and variable look on the buildings that the city is looking for."
Van Voorst conceded the law is more flexible now and said builders in the middle of a project benefited from the November amendment.
But he said the HBA's suit would not be dropped unless the city rescinds its ordinance. A motion to do just that failed on a 3-2 vote at the City Council's Sept. 6 meeting.
Council members Carolyn Swenson, who has opposed the ordinance, and Russell Peterson, who has favored it, said they could not comment because the matter is in litigation.
Van Voorst said the suit is a test case of sorts in that the outcome could influence whether other Utah cities adopt similar laws.
Way predicted the whole issue would be "resolved in an amicable manner."