From Deseret News archives:

South Jordan fees costliest

But official contradicts BYU office-permit study

Published: Thursday, Nov. 30, 2006 11:40 p.m. MST
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
For the second year in a row, South Jordan ranks as the costliest city in Salt Lake County when it comes to securing a commercial office building permit, according to a Brigham Young University study released Thursday.

The study shows that South Jordan's office permits cost roughly three times more than neighboring cities like West Jordan and Sandy.

The 2006 Municipal Development Report Card, conducted by BYU's Field Study Department, said a developer proposing to build an 84,000-square-foot building in South Jordan would have to pay the city $386,948 in numerous fees in order to obtain a building permit.

"In downtown Salt Lake City, the same building in fees costs you roughly $150,000," said Michael Roderick, president of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, which commissioned the study. "If the developer has to pay higher fees, those fees go into the building. Therefore, we have to charge more rent. Therefore the retailer has to charge more for his hamburger or your Levi's.

"You and I as consumers end up paying those additional costs."

But Rick Horst, city manager for South Jordan, said the report is nothing more than a "good piece of fiction."

Story continues below
"They come in with young students who know very little about what they are doing and pretend to be a legitimate builder and give us a very simple drawing and then ask us to figure out what we don't have all the information we need to figure it out," Horst said. "You've got to know things like location. In a city that is growing you may or may not have sewer or water lines there already."

According to the report, the five costliest cities for office building permits are South Jordan, Bluffdale, Draper, Riverton and Salt Lake City. Midvale, at $28,561, was the cheapest city in permit and development fees for a single project.

Still, South Jordan's high-priced permits are delivered much faster than other cities. The report noted that a permit for a commercial office building could be obtained in two to three months, ranking South Jordan the fourth-best of 14 cities.

At six months, Riverton took the longest to issue a commercial permit. Murray and West Valley were the fastest at one month.

David Baird, economic development manager for Draper, said despite his city's ranking as the third costliest in fees and next to last in the time it takes to obtain a permit, commercial development in Draper is booming.

Comments

You can be the first to comment on this story.

Image
Deseret Morning News graphic

previousnext

Latest comments

Time for big matchups in WAC, MWC

If you are going back 8 years then the record is the Utes winning five out of...

Bronco, Kyle rubber match

It's people like you that give BYU a bad name. Do you realize that BYU is...

I love the very first comment on this article: "They are gonna lose and...

Letters: Scrap Utah's flat tax

Think about it | 11:40 a.m. Nov. 23, 2009 What tax is considered to be...

I'm amazed that you lefties can say that Palin is unqualified. How about the...

Fitting that these two are players of the week...they'll hook up numerous...

Bronco, Kyle rubber match

If I were a BYU fan I would be "really" hoping for a win this year...

Hall, Johnson matchup key

Boise State, especially Kellen Moore, is so overrated it's ridiculous. Top...

you be MVP if you didn't play the whole season?

A little bird told me the parade will be on Tuesday the 24th (tomorrow) at...

Advertisements