Deseret News | Lake of dreams

From Deseret News archives:

Lake of dreams

Jordanelle aspires to lure rich to new 'Little Tahoe'

By Gib Twyman
Deseret News staff writer

Published: Friday, Oct. 5, 2001 10:10 a.m. MDT

| E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + -

"You do tend to lose sleep. No question consumer confidence has been low nationwide and sales are not near what we'd like to see," said Taggart, whose Deer Mountain group leans on the financial muscle of equity partner Sun America, footing approximately 50 percent of investment costs.

However, Taggart said, Deer Mountain wrote six contracts in a recent 30-day period, including four in nine days.

"This will pay off. Just look at those views," Taggart enthused, pointing to a north-to-south vista across Jordanelle. "All the way to Mount Nebo, 60 miles away."

But it will take a lot of buying to make ends meet. That's because developers already have ponied up huge impact fees. For anyone who believes fast-talking developers took Wasatch County's supposedly bumpkin politicos to the cleaners, Jordanelle investors feel the opposite.

"They have made us pay for everything before a shovel went into the ground," Taggart said. "If anyone thought we were buying a Chevrolet, they've made us pay for a Rolls Royce."

"The thing we always heard in meetings was: 'This will hurt the Heber City widow on the fixed income,' "Provost said. "There's no way we were going to make anyone's gray-haired grandma pay for rich people to play at Jordanelle."

Story continues below

Thus, Victory Ranch already is on the hook for $200 million worth of infrastructure costs involving roads, water, sewer, drainage, gas, power, communications, trail systems, golf courses, landscaping, impact fees and Provo River improvements, according to documents projecting costs earlier this year, provided by Mickelsen.

"The beauty of what the commissioners did is, they had a blank canvas. Because they planned from day one, Jordanelle hasn't cost the taxpayers a penny," Mickelsen said.

Not that some Heber Valley residents believe it. A persistent local rant about the new fire station just off the Mayflower interchange goes something like this: The rich guys got the new rigs and full-time firefighting staff; the valley settles for volunteers.

"Ask 100 residents and 100 will say they got robbed on the fire deal. There's still a lot of misinformation," Provost said.

"The fact is, the developers put up every dollar for the fire station," Mickelsen said.

Because of such costs, Dale Berg, partner in Sowby and Berg, consultants to Victory Ranch owner Robert Larsen of Park City, doubts Jordanelle ever will reach master-planned density.

"When all is said and done, it wouldn't surprise me to see it come down to 3,000-some-odd units," he said.

Even in smaller scale, planners believe Jordanelle can live up to the idea of a "Little Tahoe."

Deseret News graphic