North Salt Lake is trying again to annex Chevron refinery site

NORTH SALT LAKE — City leaders want to finally annex the land where a Chevron refinery sits after fighting a losing battle for decades.

It seems the city will do just about anything to wrest the land away from Davis County, including donating the increased tax revenue on anything Chevron wants.

Decades ago, the Chevron refinery officially resided within this southern Davis County city's borders. Chevron wanted out, and the courts designated its land as unincorporated Davis County.

In both the 1960s and '80s, North Salt Lake and Chevron battled over whether the refinery should sit within city borders, but Chevron continually prevailed.

Now North Salt Lake is going to battle again to bring the refinery back.

"We think that if they want to be a good corporate citizen, they ought to annex and pay taxes like everybody else," North Salt Lake City Manager Collin Wood said.

But it's not property taxes the city wants. Wood said if Davis County agreed to allow North Salt Lake to annex the land, the city would "contribute the extra taxes to the project of (Chevron's) choice."

Plus, North Salt Lake Mayor Kay Briggs said the added property tax revenue Chevron would have to pay is just "pennies."

The North Salt Lake property tax rate is 70 percent higher than the unincorporated property tax rate, County Clerk/Auditor Steve Rawlings said.

Attempts to reach Chevron officials were unsuccessful.

Wood said Chevron should move into North Salt Lake boundaries as a matter of principle.

"How many millions of tons of pollutants does Chevron put into the air every year?" Wood said. "Who breathes that air? Our people have to put up with the pollutants."

So far, Davis County leaders won't budge. They say they are supporting Chevron's desire to stay in unincorporated county land.

"It's a taxation issue for them," Davis County Commissioner Dannie McConkie said. "Of course we'll support them. They are a mainstay in Davis County and have provided jobs for years. We want to keep them happy."

North Salt Lake leaders think they have a good shot at finally winning because of a state code that says land must be annexed to the nearest city if urban development is taking place on that plot of land.

Chevron plans to invest $30 million to retrofit its current refinery in order to make sulphur-free gasoline. North Salt Lake leaders call that new urban development, but Davis County leaders, who govern the unincorporated land, disagree.

"They aren't taking additional land, they are just retrofitting," McConkie said.

Quite the contrary, Briggs said.

"I don't know how they can sit back and say, 'This isn't development.' " Briggs said.

When asked if the city would take this issue all the way back to the courts, Wood said nothing has been decided yet, and ultimately that would be a City Council decision.

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E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com