DRAPER — A group of developers that owns land adjacent to the SunCrest development in Draper has sued the city for allowing SunCrest to flood its land.
The developers also claim Draper will not provide them with culinary water services as promised and has allowed SunCrest to stop them from accessing their land.
"Draper city believes it would be better to ignore a small property owner in favor of a billion-dollar developer," said David Mast, a plaintiff in the suit and part of DJ Investment Group. "They continue to give approval."
The lawsuit, filed in 3rd District Court on Dec. 31, is the latest of a series of legal actions in play between Draper, SunCrest and DJ Investment.
The investment group signed a development agreement with the city to build 250 homes in the city's Utah County portion in 1999. That agreement includes a promise that Draper will provide culinary water to the neighborhood, to be called Hidden Canyon Estates, Mast said. Draper is now refusing to do so, he added.
So far, nothing has been built on the group's land.
The crux of the most recent suit is a detention pond used by SunCrest to hold storm water run-off. Mast says the pond leaks and floods his property, making it unsuitable for building homes.
Utah County has warned the investment group not to build and the group is taking its advice, Mast said.
Draper agrees that the pond is defective, said City Attorney Dough Ahlstrom. A separate litigation filed in November and being heard in 4th District Court is currently examining the issue.
The recent lawsuit claims that SunCrest is refusing to allow DJ Investment Group to access its property by driving on the shoulders of Suncrest Drive, a main residential street and one of only two access points to the DJ Investments property. Draper is complicit in the blockage because it is allowing it, Mast said.
Ahlstrom said the city would not be able to comment on the litigation but was busy preparing a response to the suit, denying its claims. The case should be decided in court and not in the press, he said.
DJ Investment attorney John Rooker agreed, also refusing to comment on the suit.
The plaintiffs are asking for a jury trial and hope to receive an award of damages, restitution and attorney fees, plus compensation for any reduction in the number of lots they are allowed to build. DJ Investment is currently facing losses in the tens of millions of dollars, according to the suit.
Part of the recent lawsuit connects its assertions of wrongdoing with ongoing problems between SunCrest and the city. The suit claims that defects in Suncrest Drive are part of the problem with the detention pond and part of the reason they haven't been able to build on their property.
The road shores up the defective pond, Mast said.
Therefore, according to Mast, a recent study commissioned by Draper showing defects in the road is proof that the city has been negligent.
The study was conducted by Salt Lake City-based CMT Engineering Laboratories in late November. After digging 20 boreholes in various locations along Suncrest Drive, CMT found the road to have some areas of pavement fatigue, separating road layers, and other pavement areas that have been patched and repaired. The road was originally built on unsuitable, low-quality soils despite a geotechnical study's recommendation that the road be built on high-grade non-plastic soils, said CMT engineer Doug Watson.
The problems are present along the whole length of the street, Watson said.
The North Salt Lake City-based engineering company has recommended three possible solutions to Draper, one of which is completely replacing the road. Neither the suggestions nor their potential cost has been made public pending litigation, Watson said.
The city has sent a letter to SunCrest's Dallas-based corporation, Terrabrook, asking it for $25 million to repair the defective roads, according to city staff. A Government Records Access and Management Act request from the Deseret Morning News to the city asking for a copy of the letter was not immediately fulfilled.
Watson said he hasn't seen a problem similar to the one on Suncrest Drive anywhere else in the Salt Lake Valley. The defective construction may have never come to light if not for heavy construction trucks using the road, he said.
"The roads are beefy enough they wouldn't even feel a car, but they're hauling tremendous amounts of land up there. ... It really is construction traffic that's killing the roads," Watson said.
Landslide hazards in the area are not to blame for the breaking road, Watson added. "Yeah, they complicate things, but they didn't cause this. The stability issue is forever."
E-mail: rpalmer@desnews.com